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October 22, 2004/Cheshvan 7 5765, Vol. 57, No. 8
Libyan Jews' trip canceled
RUTH E. GRUBER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
ROME - A group of exiled Libyan Jews living in Italy did not meet as expected with Col. Muammar Gadhafi during a four-day visit to Tripoli last week.
But they look forward to doing so in a follow-up visit planned for next month.
Delegation member Angelo Mantin said the six-member delegation, and probably several additional people, were scheduled to return to Tripoli Nov. 22-23 and other visits could follow.
JTA and other news media had reported the meeting took place Oct. 11 after sources not in Libya con-firmed that it had happened.
Saadi Gadhafi, the Libyan leader's son, authorized a news release, issued by a Milan public relations firm, saying the meeting had taken place.
That meeting was ap-parently canceled at the last minute and rescheduled for Oct. 14, at which point the meeting was canceled again.
Mantin, who worked for two years to organize last week's visit, said he was delighted with the reception the delegation received in the homeland they and thousands of other Jews had been forced to flee in 1967 because of anti-Semitic riots and violence.
The trip was viewed as part of Gadhafi's general new rapprochement with the international community.
After the outbreak of the Six-Day War, anti-Jewish riots erupted in Tripoli. Jewish shops and homes were attacked, and some Jews who braved the streets to look for food were killed.
In the space of one month, thanks to an airlift and with the aid of Italian naval ships, all but a handful of the Jews were transferred to Rome, leaving behind their homes, businesses and most of their possessions.
The exodus of Libya's Jews foreshadowed an even bigger exodus of Italians just three years later. Gadhafi deposed the king and took power in 1969, and in 1970 he expelled 20,000 Italian citizens living in the country.
Earlier this month Gadhafi agreed that the expelled Italians would be allowed to visit their one-time home.
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