The other subject I thought about as I
sat in an initial meeting was what a difference three decades can make. As I
sat there I recalled my visit with former Fatah youth leader Salah Tamari, who
did good work at the Israeli prison camp at Ansar, south Lebanon during the
1982 aggression, as the elected negotiator for his fellow inmates.
Tamari insisted on joining some of them at a new PLO base at Tabessa, Algeria and invited me for a visit.
This was shortly
after the PLO leadership, wrongly in my judgment agreed to evacuate Lebanon in
August of 1982 rather than wage a Stalingrad defense (admittedly minus the
nonexistent expected Red Army) and the PLO leadership apparently credited
Reagan administration promises of "an American guaranteed Palestinian state
within a year. You can take that to the bank" in the words of US envoy Philip
Habib.
Seemingly ever trustful of Ronald Reagan for some reason, PLO leader Arafat kept Habib's written promise in his shirt pocket to show doubters, including his Deputy, Khalil al Wazir (Abu Jihad) and the womenfolk among others in Shatila Camp who had grave misgivings about their loved ones and protectors leaving them.
At Tabessa, somewhere in the vast Algerian
desert, the formerly proud PLO defenders were essentially idle and caged inside
their camp and apart from some physical training sessions appeared to spend
their days drinking coffee and smoking and worrying about their loved ones in
Lebanon as news of the September 1982 Israeli organized massacre at
Sabra-Shatila fell on Tabessa Camp like a huge bomb and many fighters rejected
Tamari's orders and left for Shatila Camp.
This is not the case with Libyan evacuees in Niger. They have the latest model satellite phones, laptops and better equipment than most of the rich news outlets that showed up with fancy equipment at Tripoli's media hotels over the past nine months.
This observers, "how did you all get
here and where did you secure all this new electronic equipment so fast?"
question was answered with a mute smile and wink" from a hijabed young lady who
I last saw in August handing out press releases at Tripoli's Rixos Hotel for
Libyan spokesman Dr. Musa Ibrahim late last august. On that particular day,
Musa was telling the media as he stood next to Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid
Kaim, a friend to many Americans and human rights activists, that Tripoli would
not fall to NATO rebels and "we have 6,500 well trained soldiers who are
waiting for them." As it turned out, the commander of the 6,500 was owned by
NATO and he instructed his men not to oppose the entering rebel forces. Tripoli
fell the next day and the day after Khalid was arrested and is still inside one
of dozens of rebel jails petitioning his unresponsive captors for family visits
while an international, American organized, legal team is negotiating to visit
him.
The LLF has military and political projects in the works. One of the latter is to compete for every vote in next summers promised election. One staffer I met with has the job of studying the elections in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere in the region for possible applications to Libya.
Another LLF committee is putting together a Nationalist campaign electoral theme plus specific campaign planks for their candidates to run on and vetting lists of recommendations for specific candidates. Nothing is firmly decided yet, but one Libyan professor told me "for sure Women's rights will be a major plank. Women are horrified by what NTC Chairman Jalil said while seeking support from Al Qaeda supporters who threaten to control Libya, about polygamy being the future in Libya and the fact that women will no longer be given the home when divorced. Under Gadhafi Libya has been very progressive with women's rights as with Palestinian rights." Aisha Gadhafi, the only daughter of Muammar who is now living next door in Algeria with family members including her two month old baby, was a major force behind the 2010 enactment by the Peoples Congresses of more rights for women. She has been asked to write a pamphlet on the need to retain women's rights in Libya which will be distributed if the 2012 elections actually materialize.
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