Libyan leader Moamar Kadhafi disclosed his own plan for Arab-Israeli peace in exchange for three conditions, including the right of Palestinians refugees to return to their homeland.
"We will recognize Israel on three conditions: the return of all Palestinian refugees, the removal of weapons of mass destruction from the entire region, particularly Israel, and holding free elections under the aegis of the United Nations" Kadhafi said.
He added the elections should be held in Israel and the Palestinian territories and their outcome would determine which party would rule over Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Kadhafi also strongly criticized peace ideas floated in mid-February by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz who proposed Arab recognition of Israel in return for complete Israeli pullout from Arab land captured in 1967.
Prince Abdullah "is a friend", Kadhafi told a rally in the northern coastal city of Syrte marking the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Libyan Popular Socialist Jamahiriya. "Why did Saudi Arabia, the home of the hajj (annual Muslim pilgrimage) and the (Muslim) holy sites, choose to drag itself into this swamp," Kadhafi said of the decades-long Middle East conflict.
"The Arab summit and Arab League had formed a committee (last year) to study the proposal we submitted in Amman. Let us see what they say in it. If the brothers in Saudi Arabia...have a point of view, a different proposal, they are welcome," he said.
"The Israelis and the Americans have welcomed this proposal like a gift from heaven, that paves the way for Saudi recognition of the Jewish state," the Libyan leader was quoted as saying by AFP.
He commented the Saudi land-for-peace offer, which was welcomed in most Arab capitals, in the United States and Europe, was not viable. "Who can guarantee that Syria, Libya, Lebanon or the other Arab countries will recognize Israel once it withdraws from the occupied territories?", he asked.
"Who can guarantee the dismantling of the (anti-Israeli) resistance in Palestine and the end of the operations by Hamas, since Abu Ammar (Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat) cannot control the Palestinians?" Kadhafi said.
The Libyan ruler stated Israel had rejected his proposals because it did not want peace, adding he was not against Jews but against what he described as "the colonisation" of Arab and Palestinian lands.
"I'll be the first one to recognize a Jewish state if the United States give them a state in Alaska," he said.
He also called on Libya's General People's Congress, or parliament, to examine Libya's pullout from the 22-member Arab League for its failure to fully support the Palestinians. "I ask the General People's Congress (GPC, or parliament) to examine Libya's pullout from the Arab League which has become a masquerade,… ... If the decision was mine, Libya would quit the League as from now," Kadhafi said.
An Arab diplomat told Reuters Kadhafi's unexpected move showed he was angered by some Arab countries' support for the Saudi plan while they ignored Libya's proposals initiated a year ago in the last Arab summit.
Meanwhile, the Cairo-based Arab League said Secretary-General Amr Moussa was planning an urgent visit to Libya on Sunday to meet Kadhafi to discuss the latest Middle East developments. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
