Tunisian thinker Rashid Ghannouchi: Presence and early awareness of the Palestinian cause

Sheikh Rashid Ghannouchi is considered one of the most prominent figures of Islamic political thought in the Arab world, and one of the most prominent supporters of the Palestinian people. To end division and achieve reconciliation within the framework of political partnership and national consensus.

The beginning of my acquaintance with Sheikh Ghannouchi as a thinker and preacher was in the late seventies, when I was a university student in Cairo, through the Tunisian magazine (Al-Ma'rifah). It is a quarterly Islamic cultural magazine that represents the voice of the Islamic community, and it defends the image of Islam and its civilized authenticity in Tunisia with the pens of its writers. Face to face in the heart of the British capital, London, in the early 1990s, and the meetings were repeated after that with him in America, where he used to come to participate in the annual conferences held by our Islamic institutions there periodically or annually, and the last of those meetings with him was the one that brought us together in Turkey in 2011 Then in Tunisia in 2012.. The man, in terms of his ideas, positions, and jurisprudence, is known to every follower of Islamic affairs, and the opinions he presents or the statements he makes do not constitute any strangeness or surprises for me, because I belong to his school of thought and politics.

Sheikh Ghannouchi published many books and studies, which were praised by leaders in the Arab and Islamic worlds. In 2012, I witnessed, during my attendance at a special forum in Istanbul, in which more than 60 leading Islamic personalities participated, including Sheikh Ghannouchi, where he praised his thought and writings, Dr. Ahmet Davutoglu; He was Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, and he said to him: "Oh, Sheikh Rashid...we learned a lot from you, and your writings are credited with some of the ideas of the Justice and Development Party, and we have translated some of them into Turkish."

In fact, the book “General Freedoms in the Islamic State” by Sheikh Ghannouchi constituted a great addition to the intellectual literature of the Justice and Development Party and the principles and policies they adopted.

It is known about Sheikh Ghannouchi that he is an enlightened man and open to everyone, and he is endowed with a high human charisma. Then, after a while, it became clear to us that the people do not want us. We will leave power and give others an opportunity to run the country’s affairs. Next time, we will try to convince the street of us by presenting a better image, behavioral path, and better government programs.

The Sheikh first began his journey in seeking knowledge in Egypt, then left for Syria in the seventies, where he studied philosophy there, and during his time there he became acquainted with the thought of the Muslim Brotherhood, then he returned to his country after completing his university studies to raise the slogans of the Brotherhood and their thought, and this vision led The new conviction of Sheikh Ghannouchi led to major transformations within the Islamic arena in Tunisia.

In the third phase of the transformations that the Islamic movement underwent during the era of "Ben Ali", Sheikh Ghannouchi tried to adapt politically to the regime, and he changed the name of the movement from the Movement of the Islamic Direction to Ennahda, but he discovered after less than two years that "Ben Ali" is not a man who can He was trusted, as he turned the back of the madmen on them, and surprised them with a wide campaign of arrests, with which Sheikh Ghannouchi was forced to leave the country, and reside in Algeria for a short period, after which he traveled to Sudan, after he became sentenced to death in his country .. After that, he applied for asylum in Britain, He was granted residency there as a political refugee, until he returned to his country after the success of the Jasmine Revolution and the fall of the "Ben Ali" regime in 2011.

Sheikh Ghannouchi: Early Awareness of the Palestinian Cause
Sheikh Ghannouchi's view of the tragedy of Palestine as the central issue of the Arab and Islamic nations preceded other scholars and leaders of the nation. Because it is a sacred part of their land, and that there is no meaning or honor for Arabism and Islam as long as Palestine is under foreign occupation. In 1983 he published a study entitled "The Palestinian Question at the Crossroads - Lessons from the Palestinian Revolution", which includes all these positions and concepts.

Sheikh Ghannouchi affirmed: Every step towards freedom, justice and media openness is a step towards the liberation of Palestine, and he described the Palestinian cause as the fairest and noblest cause in the world. He added, "Tunisians differ on everything, but they do not differ on the Palestinian issue, and they pay homage to two things: the national anthem and Palestine."

Ghannouchi believed that the PLO was able to revive the Palestinian cause and win its supporters from all over the world, and that what is required today from the Palestinian and Islamic leaders is to restore the cause to its international radiance. Because it is a just human issue. He added, "We are in the Ennahda movement, when we immigrated from Tunisia, we found our Palestinian brothers in the Diaspora embraced us, for Palestine is the incubator of the entire nation, and we are all Palestinians until the last prisoner is released and until everyone returns to their homes." He pointed out that the Tunisians do not agree on anything. Such as meeting to reject the wave of Arab normalization with “Israel”, and to show solidarity with the Palestinian cause, because the Palestinian cause is a sacred cause in Tunisia. He pointed out that the rejection of normalization is not a matter of discussion in Tunisia, but rather a matter of consensus, and no one dared to disregard his individual convictions in talking about it, adding: “Tunisian public opinion, secular and Islamist, does not differ on this issue.” He said that the heroics of the Palestinian resistance will create another future. And that the Arab world and the Levant region will witness a rearrangement of matters according to which the Palestinian cause will be put on the right track. Ghannouchi stressed that major events in history do not pass without having some impact, highlighting that what is happening in the Palestinian territories is "a qualitative event and a major clash between Israeli arrogance and Palestinian right, and that this qualitative event must present major changes in history and geography." . He added that the Palestinian cause is unanimous in Tunisia, regardless of the political and partisan differences, and the Tunisian parliament had called for the referral of Israeli leaders to the International Criminal Court, calling on the competent regional and international human rights bodies to take the necessary legal steps to refer the leaders of Israel to the International Criminal Court, as a result of their crimes against the people. Palestinian.

Today, in an incomprehensible surrealism, Sheikh Rashid Al-Ghannouchi languishes; The former Tunisian Parliament Speaker, in prison after being sentenced to a year on charges of incitement in what was known as the “tyrants” file!! It is nothing but a pretext to silence his voice opposing tyranny and individual rule, but as we have learned from the evidence of ancient and contemporary history, every tyrant has an end.