Libya
The year 1996 marked the twenty-seventh anniversary of the revolution
that brought Colonel Muammar Qaddafi to power and led to the establishment
of his dictatorship. During 1996 Libya remained in diplomatic isolation
because of its alleged support of international terrorism. Foreign relations
were still dominated by the dispute with the USA over Qaddafi's refusal
to extradite two Libyans suspected of responsibility for the 1988 bombing
of an American aircraft over Scotland. UN sanctions, which were imposed
in 1992, continued to restrict the economy. Declining oil revenue, high
inflation and subsequent food shortages contributed to political unrest.
Internal opposition to Qaddafi gathered momentum but remained fragmented.
Most conspicous among the opposition groups were Islamic militants, including
al-Jama'mat al-Islamiyya al-Muqatila (Militant Islamic Group), who clashed
with security forces in the Benghazi area. Qaddafi's regime was also challenged
by members of his own tribe-the Qadhafa-and by rebels within the military.
Furthermore, in 1996 there were two attemp-ted coups, one of which reportedly
involved forty army officers. Qaddafi's regime has been heavily criticized
for human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings and torture
of political opponents, as well as the killing of Libyan dissidents living
abroad.
Earlier attempts by Qaddafi to raise Libya's status within the Arab world
by portraying himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause were counteracted
by the massive deportation of Palestinians in 1995. Nonetheless, Qaddafi
remains implacably opposed to Israel and to the Middle East peace process.
From the fifteenth century onwards, Jews in Libya experienced many periods
of persecution. Libyan Jews were subjected to Italian racial laws in 1936.
During the Second World War the Jewish quarter of Benghazi was sacked and
2,000 Jews were deported. In November 1945 more than 100 Jews were murdered
in anti-Jewish riots in Tripoli.
Before Libya became independent in 1951, most of the 38,000 Libyan Jews
emigrated to Israel. Those who stayed were disenfranchized in 1963 and forbidden
to hold office. During the 1967 Six-Day War about 118 Jews were killed and
there was widespread destruction of Jewish property. When Qaddafi came to
power in 1971, all Jewish property was seized without compensation. In 1993,
Qaddafi announced that he was willing to compensate Jewish and Italian emigrés
for property left in Libya and that Jews of Libyan origin, including the
100,000 living in Israel, would be welcome to visit the country. These conciliatory
statements were possibly intended to soften western attitudes towards Libya.
Libya is a fairly homogeneous society-approximately 97 per cent of the population are Sunni Muslim Arabs or Muslims of Berber descent. The Berber minority are subject to some discrimination, as are other tribal groups, such as the Tuaregs in the south. In recent years thousands of migrant workers from Nigeria, Mali and Ghana have been detained or expelled from Libya. In 1995 Libya also expelled about 1,000 Palestinians on the grounds that they ought to be "repatriated" to the areas of the Palestinian Authority.
In 1996 Qaddafi's hostility to the USA, the UK and the West was occasionally
tinged with antisemitism. In an interview with the French daily newspaper
Le Figaro in November, Qaddafi asserted that Jews were expelled from
all the countries in which they had lived because they were despised throughout
the world. He concluded that Jews should leave the "grave in which
they were put" (i.e. Israel) and go back to their "homes",
including Libya, Africa, Russia and Alaska.
In February Louis Farrakhan, the outspoken leader of the black American
movement Nation of Islam (NOI), was invited to Tripoli. Qaddafi gave him
a "human rights award" of $250,000 and donated $1 million to the
NOI. The US authorities prohibited Farrakhan from accepting this money (see
United States of America).
In addition to broadcasting and publicizing Qaddafi's personal statements, the state-controlled Jamahirriyah News Agency (JANA) and the Tripoli Libyan Television Network clearly reflect Qaddafi's hostile attitudes towards Israel and the West.
Qaddafi denies the right of Jews to settle in Israel, arguing that those who immigrated after 1948 should return to their countries of origin. In his condemnation of Israel he invariably uses the terms "Israeli" and "Jew" interchangeably and suggests that Jews are attempting to destabilize the Middle East both militarily and by spreading drugs.
Qaddafi may be seeking to improve relations with the West in order to
alleviate Libya's severe economic problems, which have been exacerbated
by UN sanctions. Hostile statements about the USA have been toned down and
blatant forms of antisemitism, such as references to "Judeo-Christian
conspiracies against Islam", which were prevalent in the Libyan media
in previous years, appear to have waned. Nonetheless, Qaddafi continues
to express hostility to the state of Israel in a manner that fails to distinguish
between Israelis, Zionists and Jews.
© JPR 1997