Ennahda Member Appointed Tunisian Prime Minister

As a result of a deal struck between the country’s three main parties, Secretary General of Ennahda Party Hamadi Jebali has been appointed as Tunisia’s Prime Minister, and he is expected to announce his cabinet within the next few days. Ennahda officials promised to complete the cabinet assignments by the end of the week to address the country’s pending economic and political crises. Samir Dilou, a leading member of Ennahda, said he expected the assignments as early as the end of the week so that urgent economic issues may be tackled.

Anshel Pfeffer writes that Tunisia’s Jewish community “[has] it good in Tunisia, both economically – Jews dominate the business of making jewelry for tourists – and religiously.” The author suggests “there is no feeling of fear or persecution in the Jewish quarter,” which was made more clear by the “chilly reception”  Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom received when he publicly urged Tunisian Jews to move to Israel. Additionally, Rami G. Khouri encourages observers not to focus on ongoing troubles with democracy in Iraq, but rather on “alternatives that Arabs initiated on their own in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen.” Finally, Time Magazine‘s Rania Abouzeid spoke to Mannoubia Bouazizi, the mother of Mohammad Bouazizi, the man widely credited with beginning Tunisia’s uprising and the broader Arab Spring. The interview details the family’s current situation and the continuing difficulties endured by the Bouazizi family.