Tunisia's Ennahda party lambasts US Jerusalem decision

By Yosra Ouanes and Ali Semerci

TUNIS (AA) - Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of Tunisia’s Ennahda movement, on Friday described the U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital as “political brigandage”.

“This decision, which the U.S., in itself, couldn’t come a mutual agreement on, is a kind of political brigandage,” Ghannouchi told Anadolu Agency.

He emphasized that any change on the legal status quo of Jerusalem would not affect the fact that the city belonged to Palestinians, as well as to the Arab and Muslim community.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move Washington’s Israel embassy to the city.

The following day, demonstrations against the move were reported in the occupied Palestinian territories, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq and in a handful of other Muslim countries.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- now occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.