I share your concern with the FBI report which indicates the Libyan
Ambassador is connected with potential terrorist activities in the US.
We believe Qadhafi was initially
reluctant to support terrorism outside the Middle East, believing that
Arabs should concentrate on guerilla activities aimed directly against
Israel and the occupied territories. However, as you point out, there is
growing evidence Qadhafi is
willing to support terrorism outside the Middle East which, in his view,
may have become a necessary if temporary expedient. As Embassy Tripoli
has pointed out in a recent airgram (A–176 of 23 November, attached)
Qadhafi’s approach towards
terrorism in general has not been unambiguous.
Unfortunately, I am afraid there is nothing we can say now directly to
the Libyan Ambassador about proper diplomatic conduct which would not
possibly risk compromising the FBI report. We may, however, have
occasion to talk with the Libyan Ambassador in the near future on
another subject. If so, we may be able to make some general remarks
deploring terrorism which is so often directed against innocent third
parties.
Attachment
Airgram A–176 From the Embassy in Libya to the Department of
State
Tripoli, November 23, 1972
[Page 2]
DEPT PASS: Other Interested Posts
SUBJECT:
-
LARG Reservations About
Terrorism
SUMMARY: The Tripoli daily newspaper, al-Faji al-Jadid, on November
14, 1972 featured a news report heavily larded with editorial
content regarding terrorism. The substance of the reportage is that
the LARG, while it must defend and
justify terrorist operations mounted by Palestinians and their
sympathizers, sees little benefit to the Arab Cause accruing as a
result of those operations and would strongly prefer that Fedayeen
operations be confined to Israel and the surrounding Arab countries.
Al-Fajr may be regarded, in our view, as an authoritative mouthpiece
for the Qadhafi regime.
Lamentable, the paper gave no indication that the LARG is prepared to use its moral and
financial influence with the Fedayeen to reflect its reservations
about “unlimited terrorism.”
Al-Fajr Report
Under the headline, “Secret Decisions of the American Government
against Arabs Residing in the United States,” Tripoli’s daily
al-Fajr al-Jadid November 14, 1972 reported that the “huge wave of
anti-Arab propaganda now sweeping Europe and the United States is
directed in general against the Arab States and in particular
against LAR.” Al-Fajr said that the release of their “comrade
commandos” from “enemy prisons” by the Lufthansa hijackers and the
fact that all the commandos sought asylum in LAR sparked this
propaganda and the “violent, anti-Arab measures by governmental and
semi-official authorities in Europe and the United States” directed
against Arab students and
[Page 3]
laborers.
Al-Fajr reproduced part of an article published recently by the
Washington Star and headlined, “Secret Memo of the State Department
Restricts Arab Visits to the United States.” The Star reported that
secret USG decisions “against the
Arabs” were implemented beginning October 19. Al-Fajr also referred
to the resolve of Secretary of State Rogers to “protect every Zionist in the United
States, liquidate, all elements supporting the Arab Cause,
confiscate all Arab publications concerning the Arab Cause and
silence every voice supporting that Cause, particularly among Arab
students in American Universities.” The US aims at making Arabs in
America feel that everyone moving and speaking in favor of that
Cause is subject to surveillance by American Intelligence, and at
subduing and humiliating the national feelings of Arab students
while bolstering Zionists feelings of pride that they enjoy American
support of their State, the paper said.
Moreover, Al-Fajr charged, at the University of North Carolina “Arab
students—including eight Libyans—were subject to ridiculous
questions such as, ‘Why does Libya help the Commando Organizations?
What do you know about these Organizations? Do you know any
Palestinian student here? Do you promise not to talk about the
Palestinian Problem? Do you have any circulars or pictures or
statements regarding the Palestinian Cause?’”
LAR Position?
Al-Fajr in commenting on the above, asserted that the United States
and Britain were “motivated by Zionist Intelligence to take
advantage of what they call ‘Terrorism’, in order to justify the
committing of more acts of aggression. “It is strange that they
forgot that the Zionists were the first people to use terrorism
through their terrorist bands of Irgun, Stern, and Hagana.” The
paper asked, “What benefits accrue to the Arabs as a result of these
acts of terrorism? Are the Arabs getting any benefits?” “Of course
not. In fact, the Arabs are the only ones harmed by these terrorist
operations.”
“In fact” Al-Fajr concludes the Arab States, particularly the LAR,
bear with deep conviction their responsibility
[Page 4]
towards the just Cause of the
Palestinian Arab People whose home has been usurped by Terrorism;
their struggle to restore their homeland cannot be described as
‘acts of terrorism’. Based on that conviction, the LAR received the
Munich commandos.
Comment: Al-Fajr’s editorializing reveals
the quandry the LAR is facing on the issue of terrorism. On the one
hand, Qadhafi disapproves of
terrorist operations in foreign countries outside the “proper field
of battle”—Israel and the surrounding Arab countries: Qadhafi believes that the fighting
against Israel should be carried out by unified commando
organizations on the basis of “the nationalization of Commando
activities”. He sees acts of terrorism against Zionists in foreign
countries as harmful to the Palestinian Cause because they provoke
hostility against the Arabs and tend to increase disunity among the
several Commando organizations. Moreover, the behavior of the LAR’s
top leadership towards terrorists over the last several months tends
to confirm RCC displeasure with
their operations. Tripoli’s media made quite a point of the fact
that the LARG did not itself ask
for the return of the corpses of the commandoes killed in Munich.
Rather, private Libyan citizens reportedly initiated and financed
the arrangements for the funeral in Tripoli and no RCC member took part in the attendant
ceremonies. Also, it was noteworthy that during the time the
Lufthansa hijackers were in Tripoli, including the occasion of their
press conference, no RCC members
were on hand. Indeed, there was no public mention of any contacts
between them or members of the RCC
or the LARG.
On the other hand, foreigners’ suggestions that the LARG take steps to “punish or
extradite” such terrorists—described locally as “Commando
heroes”—excites the scorn of LARG
spokesmen, e.g. Foreign Minister Kikhya’s statement at Damascus (reported by Beirut
press November 2) to the effect that the LARG regards any request for extradition or trial of
commandoes as “absurd and unreasonable…anyone believing that such is
possible is silly”. Similarly, Qadhafi himself, most recently
[Page 5]
in his October 7 speech at Tripoli, went
out of his way to praise the Japanese perpetrators of the Lod
Airport massacre for having displayed the “true Fedayeen spirit”; he
also claimed that the LARG is
backing morally and financially “all the Fedayeen” (Tripoli
1615).
As is his wont, Qadhafi would
like to have his cake and eat it too; he ipso facto abets Fedayeen
terrorist activities with Libyan funds and defends their operations
anywhere, even though he would prefer that a unified commando
movement, in tandem with a progressive Arab bloc, confine its
operations to occupied Palestine, including Israel. Unfortunately
there is no indication in the Al-Fajr article that Qadhafi is considering the use of
moral and financial influence to limit Fedayeen operations.
