Algeria opposition lawmakers seek to criminalise normalisation with Israel

A group of Algerian lawmakers are seeking to criminalise all forms of normalisation deals with Israel, Algerie Presse reported on Tuesday.

The bill, submitted by the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) party, also includes the prohibition of travel to Israel, as well as all forms of direct and indirect contact.

An MSP representative, Youcef Adjissa, said that he "filed the bill to the presidency of parliament, on behalf of his party’s group of deputies," in a statement to the Turkish Anadolu agency.

Adjissa also said that his party’s parliamentary bloc tried to include other groups in the submission of the bill but failed to receive a response.

The MSP is Algeria’s largest Islamist party with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. It also forms the largest opposition bloc in the North African country’s parliament.

Algerian MP Amira Selim submitted a similar bill in January last year, but plans for the bill’s approval fell through as Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune dissolved parliament in February of the same year.

Adjissa stated that he lodged the bill to coincide with the 74th anniversary of Nakba Day, which commemorates the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948.

The draft bill includes seven articles, which include prohibition of opening representative offices in Israel.

The bill requires a majority of the first chamber of Parliament in order to be approved, and would then be referred to the second chamber for a final approval.

Algeria does not have any diplomatic or commercial ties with Israel, and has consistently expressed official support for the Palestinian cause.

In December last year, President Tebboune pledged $100 million in aid to Palestinians "in keeping with Algeria's revolutionary history and the entire Algerian people's commitment to support the just Palestinian cause under all circumstances".