AL-QADHDHAFI SPEAKS AT PALESTINIAN CONFERENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP05-01559R000400380008-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 23, 2012
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: May 28, 1977
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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V. 1 Jun 77 ? I 3 ? NORTH AFRICA
LIBYA
AL-QADHDHAFI SPEAKS AT PALESTINIAN CONFERENCE
JN281924Y Tripoli ARNA in English 1800 GMT 28 May 77 J
X315- HrVJ 7-/6~
[Text] Tripoli, 28 May--Colonel Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhafi, the leader of the revolution,
opened the first conference of the Palestinian engineers federation at the people's
Hall here today. In his opening address Colonel al-Qadhdhafi expressed the Jamahiriyah's
pride to host the conference and indicated that the holding of the conference in the
Jamahiriyah is an expression of the historic stand adopted by the Libyan Arab people
toward their issue--the issue of Palestine.
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi welcomed-,the branches of the Palestinian engineers association consti-
tuting the conference and the other delegations of friendly countries attending the confer-
ence as a token of their people's support for the Palestinian issue.
The revolution leader also welcomed the delegations of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria,
Yugoslavia, Greece, Cyprus, Poland and Vietnam, as. well as the chairman and the secretary
general of the General Federation of International Engineering organisations. He also
welcomed the representatives of Arab engineering unions coming from Tunisia, Iraq, Jordan
and Algeria.
In the course of his opening address, Colonel al-Qadhdhafi emphasised that the Palestinian
issue is an issue of destiny for the Arabs, especially the Palestinians, who, despite
their preoccupations and personal interests, are living in a catastrophe, with their
lands occupied and their people expelled outside the homeland.
It is a good opportunity, the revolution leader added, to hold the conference in the
Jamahiriyah, the free rostrum for every man to express his opinion with full freedom,
because the Jamahiriyah is one of the world's freedom fortresses, and because the con-
ference is held at a time when the Arab messengers of despair and apostasy are exerting
intensive efforts, together with imperialism and racist Zionism, to kill the hope of the
Arabs and to instill despair leading to surrender to the fait accompli.
Al-Qadhdhafi asserted that such attempts are desperate ones. He described them as rowing
against the current.
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi said the only voice that should be listened to in connection with
such a serious and fateful case is that of the Palestinian people, who are the rightful
owner of the case. He added that only the people of Palestine themselves can settle the
account with those who betray their national cause within their ranks.
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi, whose speech was interspersed with generous applause, said: A
true Palestinian is not that who seeks publicity or is hungry for a headline but the
one who crosses the border to hit the enemy inside occupied Palestine and shakes the
deviationist leaders. It is high time that the Palestinian people cleaned their house
and purged it of deviationists and bargainers.
He said non-Palestinian Arab leaders must keep their hands off the Palestinian cause,
which is the sole concern of the Palestinian people. He added that the true revolutionary
leaders are those who refuse to see the Palestinian freedom-fighters lay down his arms,
who say no to surrender and yes to armed struggle. There is no harm in Palestinians
fighting out their differences, because in the end only the good will stay.
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v. 1 Jun 7? I 2
It must be pointed out that the French Government has used such readiness in the past
Concluding, Brother Bouteflika asked: How can one overlook the tragedy of a whole
people and pay attention to-the-interest of only a few? He added: One cannot but feel
astonished at the exertion of all this mental effort just to find what had been previously
clearly declared at all the international organizations.
LD291736Y Algeiers Domestic Service in Arabic 1100 GMT 29 May 77 LD
[Excerpts] 'Abd al-Karim lAdi, Syrian minister of state for foreign affairs and personal
envoy of Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad to President Houari Boumediene, arrived in Algiers
last night. Upon his arrival he answered questions from our correspondent 'Isa Muwafi:
[begin recording]
[Question] What are the aims of the Arab-American contacts?
['Adi] [words indistinct] The United States has a role to play in solving the Middle East
question, our cause. We are still moving toward the realization of a just peace. We
hold contacts and meetings with all world officials including those from the United States.
The meetings that have already taken place, both in Damascus with Vance and in Geneva where
President Hafiz al-Asad met with President Carter, fall in the context of the efforts
being made to establish a just peace in our area.
[Question indistinct]
[Answer] We do not believe that Begin's triumph will cause changes in the principled Arab
positions. Before Begin and after him, we have continued and will continue to uphold our
principled stand that a just peace, and all the efforts we exert for a just peace are
based on the complete withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967 and a guarantee of
the rights of the Palestinian Arab people in their territory and homeland. Within the
framework of these two principles, we seek peace, a just peace in the area. Undoubtedly,
Begints rise has caused world reaction which has occasionally been pessimistic--indeed
on most occasions, both in the West and in the East. Begin's recent statements are
well?known. But all this will not frighten the Arabs or force them away from their
principled stand toward the cause. If the Israelis want peace, then peace is based on
complete withdrawal--and we will not relinquish an inch of our territories, all the
Arab territories--and on the rights of the Palestinian Arab people. [end recording]
LD301958Y Algiers International Service in French 1800 GMT 30 May 77 LD
[Excerpt] The special envoy of President Hafiz al-Asad, 'Abd al-Karim 'Adi, the Syrian
minister of state for foreign affairs, left Algiers this afternoon. Before leaving Dar
El Beida Airport, 'Abd al-Karim ?Adi said in a declaration to the press that he is
satisfied with the results of his mission to Algeria. He said that President Boumediene
gave him a message for the Syrian president.
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Al-Qadhdhafi said: For 29 years the Palestinian people have been living in refugee camps
outside their homeland and nothing has been taken to amend the wrong done to them. For
the Palestinian people to be uprooted from their homeland so-that another group'will
take their place and acquire their lands by force is a flagrant injustice, which is
unprecedented in human history.
Al-Qadhdhafi called on Palestinians not to allow any Arab politician to play about with
their cause like As-Sadat, who unshamedly pokes his nose in the Palestinian problem and
tells America that he is the man to deal with regarding the Palestinian problem.
We wonder how you Palestinians agree to this, Colonel al-Qadhdhafi asked. He said:
one cannot perceive that As-Sadat, who put the liberation of his own Egyptian land behind
his back and who fails to face the problem of day-to-day life in Egypt, could champion
the Palestinian cause. Only the Palestinian people have the right to dispose of their
own case. When the Palestinian people carry the gun and move toward Palestine to liberate
it from Zionist occupation, only then will peace be determined, as the world will then
know who really has the key to the solution.
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi said: The big powers would be deluded to think that rulers of other
Arab countries could decide peace or war. This is clearly explained in the fact that these
rulers' primary concern is the direct negotiations in Geneva. Let them go to Geneva, but
I am sure they will return empty-handed because they represent no one and because the
case of a people expelled from its land cannot be solved in a conference.
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi said that Arabs whose territories are occupied have only two alter-
natives: war or unconditional withdrawal by the enemy. Is it not ironic that Egypt
should give in to the terms of the racist Zionist enemy, including stoppage of Egyptian
information attacks on the Zionist enemy and turn its attacks on the Jamahiriyah and the
Libyan Arab people? Colonel al-Qadydhafi asked.
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi reiterated the Jamahiriyahts support for the Palestinian people,
and said: The Palestinians are fighting for the recognition of their national rights,
and so long as these rights are unrecognised they will go on fighting.
Al-Qadhdhafi said: The apparent solution to the problem is that all mercenaries who
came to Palestine holding different nationalities to live in the land which became vacant
as a result of the expulsion of the Palestinian people, should go back to their countries
of origin. The French Jew should go back to France, the German Jew should return to
Germany and so on. Otherwise, these countries would be considered as persecuting Jews
and forcing them into exile. We are certain of the non-existence of persecution against
Jews in the world now. Therefore, there is no reason why these Jews should not go back
to their countries of origin.
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi added that oriental Jews could then live in peace and harmony with
the Palestinians in a democratic state as has been the case before 1948. He said that
for this to materialise, new anus supplies to the Zionist occupiers should be stopped
forthwith. This road leads to stable and durable peace; otherwise, fighting will be the
only alternative left for the Palestinians and the Arab nation, he declared.
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi said: We cannot believe that he who says 99 percent of the solution
to the problem is in the hands of America really ignores the fact that America cannot put
pressure on Israel, and that America itself is under the influence of Zionism. How could
the United States exercise any pressure on the Israelis to withdraw from occupied Arab
territories while America itself is under Zionist influence?
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Colonel al-Qadhdhafi said that there are more than 30,000 Palestinians in the Libyan
Jamahiriyah, and that it is time they spoke up their mind and defined their attitude
toward their case, freely and responsibly. This opportunity should be given to Pales
tinians in other Arab countries, he concluded.
LIBYAN CHARGE RECALLED FROM PORTUGAL
JN300912Y Tripoli ARNA in Arabic 0820 GMT 30 May 77 JN
[Text] Tripoli, 30 May--An official spokesman at the Foreign Secretariat has'stated the
following:
In view of the fact that Portugal promoted its consular relations with the Zionist enemy
to embassy level, and in view of the announced exchange of ambassadors, the Foreign
Secretariat contacted the Arab countries and the Arab League with a view to reaching
agreement on action to be taken to deal with this situation. Portugal created this
situation at a time when the entire world is condemning the Zionist enemy which expelled
our people from their land and occupied the territory of Arab countries.
Whereas the Arab League has not notified us of the action it intends to take, the
Foreign Secretariat has decided to take action in accordance with our pan-Arab stand
and duty to express our loud protest against Portugal's action. Accordingly, the charge
d'affaires of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah.has been recalled.
JN311838Y Tripoli ARNA in English 1820 GMT 31 May 77 JN
[Text] Tripoli, 31 May--On the Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah's recall of its diplomatic envoy
in Lisbon in demonstration of its protest of Portugal's elevation of its consular relations
with the Zionist enemy to the ambassadorial: level, AL-JIHAD described Portugal*s move as
a challenge to the international society which branded Zionism as a form of racism and
to the Arab nation which-is waging a just struggle to liberate Palestine from the Zionist
occupation.
Our hopes in the Portuguese Socialist Party have vanished since it sought to deepen its
ties with Western Europe and received promises of aid from America and the World Bank,
which gives loans on political considerations to serve American interests, the paper
said. Portugal's decision to extend full diplomatic recognition to the Zionist enemy
does not serve Portugal's national interest's in so much as it serves the interest of
America, which is Israel's most important benefactor, AL-JIHAD asserted.
JN280916Y Tripoli ARNA in Arabic 0745 GMT 28 May'77 JN
[Text] Tripoli, 28 May--Svetczar Pepovski, Yugoslav Federal Executive Council member
and chairman of the committee for labor and employment, arrived in Tripoli last night
on a visit of several days to the Jamahiriyah during which he will hold talks on consoli -
dating cooperation in the field of labor, employment,' vocational training and social secur-
ity between the Jamahiriyah and Yugoslavia. Pepovski will also discuss the possibility
of using Yugoslav experts in various spheres in the Jamahiriyah.
Pepovski was received at Tripoli International Airport by the secretary of labor and the
Yugoslav ambassador in Tripoli.
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