Thousands of Jews from Morocco, Israel and other parts of the world have over the past week carried out an annual pilgrimage to the Islamic nation to honor celebrated rabbis.

Morocco may not be the likeliest of Jewish pilgrim destinations, but the North African nation has for centuries had a vibrant Jewish population and some 1,200 of the faith's pious ancestors are buried in cemeteries there.

A verdict in the trial of a Tunisian television station director accused of insulting sacred values for having screened the Franco-Iranian film "Persepolis" is set for Thursday, court sources said.

Nabil Karoui's Nessma television station broadcast the award-winning animated film, which recounts the Iranian revolution and its aftermath through the eyes of a young girl, on October 7 last year.

The rise of Islamist parties across the region in the wake of the Arab Spring will have consequences for the Palestinians, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday in Tunis.

"The rise to power of Islamist forces in revolutionary countries will no doubt impact on the Palestinian issue," the head of the Palestinian Authority said during a four-day visit to Tunisia.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday discussed Palestinian reconciliation with Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki at the start of an official visit.

The Palestinian leader was greeted with military honors at the airport by President Marzouki and president of the National Constituent Assembly Mustapha Ben Jaafar.

Citizens from Gulf Cooperation Council states will no longer need a visa to enter Tunisia, starting next month, the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Tuesday quoted the country's President Moncef Marzouki as saying.

"We have decided to lift the need for (entry) visas for all Gulf (nationals) starting from May in the hope of increasing visits and tourism" to Tunisia, Marzouki told the daily.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is expected in Tunisia Monday for a two-day visit, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The visit will be an opportunity to review means of strengthening bilateral ties and discuss regional and international issues of common interest," the statement said Saturday.

The trial of a television station director accused of insulting sacred values for having screened the Franco-Iranian film "Persepolis" resumed Thursday in Tunisia under tight security.

Supporters of Nessma television chief Nabil Karoui and Islamists held rival protests outside the Tunis court, which was heavily guarded by police screening anyone trying to get into the chamber of the trial.

Some 100 Tunisian workers kidnapped by armed men in western Libya have been released, Tunisia said Wednesday after a diplomatic row in which Tripoli denied any abductions had occurred.

"The Tunisians kidnapped in Libya have been freed," Tunisia's interior ministry said in a statement.

Growth in the Middle East and North Africa took a dive in 2011 because of the Arab Spring protests and resulting political upheaval, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the region, stretching from Iran to Mauritania, grew by 3.5 percent last year, down from a healthy 4.9 percent in 2010, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook.

Libyan officials on Tuesday denied that Tunisians were kidnapped in the border zone of the two countries as claimed by the Tunisian foreign ministry.

"We deny this information. There was no kidnapping of any Tunisians," interior ministry spokesman Abdelmonem Ayad told Agence France Presse without elaborating.