Libyan religious figure warns against Palestinian resettlement
Libya’s Grand Mufti, Sheik Al-Sadiq Al-Gharyani, has warned against reported plans for Libya to host displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip at the behest of the United States, according to Middle East Monitor on September 11th.
According to reports, a meeting is said to have taken place between Saddam Haftar – who is the son of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar – and an adviser to President Donald Trump of the US.
Al-Gharyani commented on Tanasuh TV that media reports said “stability in Libya” was the focus of the Rome meeting. But he also claimed that he received information concerning a hidden agenda from the US to call on the north African country to host displaced Palestinians.
A Grand Mufti is a title given for the highest religious authority in the country, and Al-Gharyani has been perceived as a polarising figure within Libya. He has been accused of undermining Libya’s complex path to stability.
The Mufti said that if the reports regarding displaced Palestinians are true, then “it would be a disgrace, and shameful for the people of Libya to accept it.”
He also called on the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity to publicly turn down such a move.
Acknowledging the internal crises that Libya currently faces, Gharyani said Libya cannot become a hotspot for political deals and the enforced resettlement of Palestinians.
There is already extensive political pressure on the Prime Minister for the Government of National Unity Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh. On September 1st, 40 MPs from Libya’s House of Representatives issued a joint statement urging him to step down.
One of the internal crisis’ facing Libya includes uncertainty over its political future, with national elections yet to take place amid split administrations and heavy militia presence.
The addition of a vulnerable and displaced Gazan population into Libya would be another source of instability affecting both Palestinian and Libyan people, and Al-Gharyani underlined that both Libya’s national and religious duty requires supporting the Palestinian people in their own land, not Libya’s.
Middle East Monitor, Maghrebi.org, Libya Review, Tanasuh TV
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