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30-08-2023
TRIPOLI: Libya’s internationally recognized prime minister has come under scrutiny for his reported role in attempting to normalize relations with Israel, analysts have said, with some calling for his dismissal.
Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU), sacked Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush after her meeting with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Rome last week was leaked to the media. She has since fled the country.
On Sunday evening, a statement from the Israeli foreign ministry said al-Mangoush and Cohen had discussed ways to have “great relations” between their nations.
The meeting sparked protests Sunday night in Tripoli and other cities, with demonstrators blocking roads with burning tyres and waving Palestinian flags.
Libya’s rival parliament in the east, which rejects the GNU, said on Sunday it would hold hearings into the meeting while the Tripoli-based Presidency Council asked Dbeibah for clarification and the High State Council, another important body, condemned it.
Under a 1957 law in Libya, it is illegal to have formal relations with Israel. Analysts say al-Mangoush has taken the fall for decisions made by Libya’s rival leaders, linking the meeting with the United States’ efforts to pressure more Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel.
Libya expert Anas El Gomati of the Sadeq Institute said Dbeibah, his rival military strongman Khalifa Haftar and the eastern-based parliament that backs him “have used Libya’s first female foreign minister as the fall person for decisions they all partook in”.
“It’s not about politics, its blatant scapegoating,” El Gomati told media.
Last January, Dbeibah met with US CIA director William Burns in Tripoli to discuss normalizing relations with Israel, two Libyan officials told The Associated Press.
He gave initial approval for joining the US-brokered Abraham Accords but was concerned about public backlash in a country known for its support for the Palestinian cause, one of the officials said. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
