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Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi speaks to a Georgetown audience via satellite.01/27/2009
CCAS Co-Sponsors Videoconference with Muammar Al-Qaddafi
A packed Intercultural Center auditorium recently listened as Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi explained via live, translated video feed his proposal for a one-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Afterwards, al-Qaddafi responded to questions on such subjects as the economic crisis and oil prices, the Obama administration, and Pan Am Flight 103. CCAS co-sponsored the event with the Georgetown University Lecture Fund and the Georgetown University International Relations Club, and the event was made possible by support from ExxonMobil. Dr. Michael Hudson, director of CCAS, introduced al-Qaddafi and acted as one of three moderators during the question and answer period. Two students from the Lecture Fund also posed questions to the Libyan leader.
Al-Qaddafi’s 17-page “White Book,” which was distributed at the event, speaks at length about his vision for a nation called Isratine in which Israelis and Palestinians live peacefully together in a democratic state. “All the [former peace] initiatives went up in flames,” he said. “We’ve seen rivers of blood, war, and the maximum use of force. The solution is in the White Book.”
The White Book’s argument rests on the idea that no one can exclusively claim Palestine. “It has been a transition area and a conflict area,” he noted. “Whoever says, ‘This is my land’ is wrong.” Al-Qaddafi also pointed out that Arabs and Jews historically lived together in peace until 1948, when “extremist Jewish movements” claimed that Palestine belonged to them. He also argued that until recently, it was the West who was the enemy of the Jews. “The Balfour declaration wasn’t to give them a national home, but to get rid of them,” he said.
Another fundamental component of al-Qaddafi’s vision is the Palestinian right of return. In his January 22 op-ed in the New York Times, he writes: “It is an injustice that Jews who were not originally inhabitants of Palestine, nor were their ancestors, can move in from abroad while Palestinians who were displaced only a relatively short time ago should not be so permitted.”
The Libyan leader asserted that Isratine in a way already exists, as, for instance, Arabs and Jews live together in the West Bank. What’s needed, he says, is for the Jews to accept the Palestinians.
Though Dr. Hudson raised the question of whether the White Book’s approach sufficiently recognizes the depth of hostility between Israelis and Palestinians, al-Qaddafi remained firm in his belief that his plan will work.
Al-Qaddafi also answered questions about the economic crisis, which he blamed on the capitalist system’s uneven distribution of wealth. “If the wealth was evenly distributed,” he said, “people would have had the purchasing power to pay their loans.” The Libyan leader also said that the nationalization of oil companies is possible due to the crisis and the drastic reduction in the price of oil.
Despite the crisis, al-Qaddafi has hope for the U.S and its new administration. “There is a new America, an America of change,” he said, “and an America which we hope will not be an imperial America, an America of aggression.” He cited new initiatives such as the closing of Guantanamo Bay prison and the review of American military presence in Iraq as positive signs.
The question of the bombing of Pan Am 103 was also raised, about which Al-Qaddafi refused to speak. “This file has been closed,” he said. “There is no sense in gravedigging.” After the event, parents of two victims of Pan Am 103, whose other children were Georgetown alumni, gave a short statement noting that a Libyan terrorist, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, is serving a prison sentence in Scotland for the bombing.
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