Libya's Jerusalem Misstep

By Greg Noakes

The unprecedented visit of 192 Libyan pilgrims to Jerusalem, and their subsequent hasty retreat, created considerable confusion about the trip's purpose and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's motive for permitting it. Whatever his initial aim, in the end Qaddafi managed to offend all parties concerned, with nothing to show for his trouble.

The incident began with the arrival in Israel by bus from Egypt of nearly 200 Libyans to visit Jerusalem's Islamic monuments, including the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site after Mecca and Medina. They said they had been unable to fly from Libya to Saudi Arabia to participate in the hajj to Mecca, which was taking place at the same time, and thus had decided to visit Jerusalem instead.

Speculation shifted to a possible visit by Qaddafi himself.

The Saudis in fact had told the would-be pilgrims they were welcome to participate in the hajj, but that United Nations sanctions stemming from the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, prohibited anyone from flying directly from Libya to Saudi Arabia, or to any other country. The pilgrims would have to travel overland to a third nation and fly to Saudi Arabia from there, which the Libyans said they were unwilling to do.

The pilgrims then did exactly what they had objected to before, traveling overland from Libya to Egypt and then onward by bus to Jerusalem instead of flying to Mecca. At the Israeli border they were greeted by Tourism Minister Uzi Baram and former Israeli Mossad and Iran-contra conspirator Yaacov Nimrodi, who had organized the visit with Qaddafi, using as an intermediary Saudi arms merchant Adnan Khashoggi, who was also an Iran-contra participant. The Libyans' arrival received widespread publicity in Israel, where reports of clandestine contacts between Tel Aviv and Tripoli to arrange for the pilgrims' visit had started appearing in the press nearly two months beforehand.

A number of Israeli officials expressed skepticism about the visit, saying Qaddafi was using it to modify his public image in the West and forestall the imposition of additional U.N. sanctions against Libya. Washington has repeatedly accused Tripoli of sponsoring terrorism, and Britain and the U.S. have refused to compromise on their demand that two Libyan suspects in the Pan Am bombing case be tried in a Scottish court. France also is pressuring Libya for information about the bombing of a French UTA airliner over the Sahara in 1987. There has been talk of an international ban on Libyan oil exports, which would cripple the country's petroleum based economy.

Nevertheless, some prominent Israelis interpreted the trip as the first step in establishing diplomatic ties with Libya and Police Minister Moshe Shahal said Israel had discussed normalization of relations in clandestine meetings with Libya, "an Arab state we have nothing against." Speculation then shifted to further Libyan overtures toward Israel, including a possible visit by Qaddafi himself. Nimrodi told reporters the Libyan leader "will visit this year," and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told a Knesset panel that Qaddafi would be "welcome." Khashoggi informed the Israeli daily Davar before the pilgrims' trip that Qaddafi was prepared to normalize relations with Israel, and that the Libyan leader "wants to make peace with the Jewish people."

News of the pilgrimage angered Arabs and Muslims around the world, who saw the visit as a tacit acceptance of Israel's occupation of Jerusalem and the Islamic holy places in the Old City. Citizens of Arab states (with the exception of Egypt) generally have been discouraged or prohibited by their governments from visiting Israel in the past because of the Arab-Israeli conflict, while a number of Muslim religious leaders repeatedly have called on non-local Muslims to abstain from traveling to Jerusalem while it remains under Israeli control. Aside from protesting the Israeli occupation, the Muslim boycott also serves as an expression of solidarity with the local Muslim population.

The claim by the Libyan pilgrims that their trip was made for religious rather than political reasons failed to convince many Palestinians, who fiercely criticized the Libyans' decision to travel to Jerusalem when Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza are prohibited from entering the city and worshipping at its Muslim and Christian shrines due to Israel's closure of the occupied territories. Palestinians in East Jerusalem erected barricades in the streets leading to Al Aqsa to keep the Libyan pilgrims out of the mosque.

Faced with mounting hostility in the Arab and Muslim worlds, the pilgrims' leader, Salim Tajouri, called a press conference in Jerusalem to read a Libyan government statement calling on Muslims to rise up and free Jerusalem from Israeli control. The pilgrims were visiting Jerusalem as "the capital of the state of Palestine," the statement from Tripoli announced. Speaking for themselves, the pilgrims read a statement saying Israel "is not a state defined by borders, but simply the name of a prophet mentioned in the Qur'an. "

The abrupt change in tone prompted several right-wing Knesset members to propose deporting the Libyans. The pilgrims pre-empted any such action by announcing that they had decided to cut their visit short. They avoided any further statements as they left Israel by bus, saying only that they were eager to return to Jerusalem.

Whether the pilgrims' visit was initially designed as a harbinger of peace between Libya and Israel, an effort to placate Western public opinion and head off more international sanctions, or as an attempt to embarrass Saudi Arabia, with which Qaddafi carries on a long-running feud, it ended in unmitigated disaster for Tripoli. Qaddafi's provocative pilgrimage confirmed that the only thing predictable about the Libyan leader is his unpredictability.

Moroccan Opposition Will Participate in Elections

Morocco's four largest opposition political parties have agreed to participate in parliamentary elections scheduled for June 25, despite persistent rumors to the contrary. The four-party opposition bloc, which includes the nationalist Istiqlal, the Socialist Union of People's Forces (USFP), the leftist Organization of Democratic and Popular Action, and the Communist Party of Progress and Socialism, says the government manipulated the last legislative elections in 1984, but that guarantees for "fair, honest and transparent" balloting are in place this time around.

In response to opposition concerns, the Moroccan government has revised electoral rolls, issued new voter identity cards and redrawn constituency boundaries. The new parliament will be larger than the assembly it replaces, growing from 306 to 333 seats. Two-thirds of the legislators will be directly elected, with the remaining 111 members selected by interest groups including local councils, professional organizations and trade unions. The Istiqlal and the USFP announced they would submit a joint list which would contest all 222 seats up for direct election.

Political Developments in Algiers

Algerian head of state Ali Kafi announced in May that a constitutional referendum will be held before the end of the year to decide how the country should resume its democratic experiment, abruptly halted by the army in January 1992. Kafi did not specify what questions will be placed on the ballot, but the referendum will probably contain proposals for some type of governmental body to replace the present five-man High Council of State, whose mandate to rule expires on Dec. 31 of this year.

Many observers believe that the talks are irrelevant without participation by the F15.

The referendum is seen as a first step to restore faith in the nation's political system. though Kafi argued that multiparty elections and real democracy'' can resume only with long-term economic development. Algerian Prime Minister Belaid Abdeslam has said previously that economic reforms will require a minimum of three years to complete. In the meantime. Kati announced, the National Consultative Council an appointed advisory body which replaced the country's dissolved parliament. will be expanded to admit opposition politicians and will be given reinforced prerogatives.''

Kaf also announced that ongoing talks with political parties, including the former ruling National Liberation Front and the Islamist Hamas and Al Nahdha parties, would continue in order to build consensus on the nation s future. He rejected talks with the main opposition party, the outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). The two largest Algerian leftist parties, the Front of Socialist Forces and the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), are boycotting the discussions with the government, with the RCD refusing to sit with any Islamist parties. Many observers believe that the talks are irrelevant without participation by the FIS, but the leftist parties' refusal to talk is an indication of the government's isolation.

A High Death Toll

Kafi said the state is winning its fight against Islamist militants and that "the escalation of terrorist acts is being combated more and more efficiently by security forces." More than 600 Algerians have been killed since the outbreak of political violence in February 1992.

U.N. Official to Western Sahara

The United Nations has appointed Britain's Erik Jensen, a senior U.N. diplomat, to head a voter identification commission for the Western Sahara. Jensen's commission will begin registering voters from a 1974 Spanish census of the disputed territory for a referendum planned for the end of the year. The referendum has been repeatedly delayed because of disagreements over voter eligibility between the government of Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front. Rabat has pressed for an expanded list of voters, which Polisario claims would be used to stack the vote in favor of Morocco.