Libya Expels 800 Palestinians in Continued Attack on Accord

Libya expelled about 800 Palestinians, including women and children from Tripoli, to a barren strip along the border with Egypt on Saturday, witnesses said.

A United Nations official said the latest expulsions brought to about 6,000 the number of Palestinians thrown out of Libya in the past three months.

The latest batch of deported Palestinians, many without identity cards or travel documents, were taken to Salum border crossing. More Palestinians were expected to join them in the next few days in the patch of desert, hemmed in by barbed wire between the two states. Witnesses said Libyan authorities had set up about 170 tents in the narrow strip.

A U.N. official in Cairo called on Libya to halt the expulsions.

“We are appealing to the Libyan government for restraint, to stop expelling and stop relocation of Palestinians within the country until a solution can be reached,” said Panos Moumtzis, the Cairo representative of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. “Innocent people are suffering from these measures.”

Palestinians stuck at Salum last month said they were reduced to begging for food from travelers. Moumtzis said children were struck down with diarrhea and people were scared to sleep at night because of the scorpions.

The expulsions follow attacks by Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi against the self-rule accord negotiated by Israeli and Palestinian leaders, which Kadafi described as Arab capitulation to the Jewish state.

The official Libyan news agency Jana said Saturday the Palestinians were “on their way home in compliance with the Palestinian masses’ decision to go home, responding to the call of the revolution leader [Kadafi].”

Reports from Libya indicate 1,500 Palestinians slated for expulsion had been moved to one or more camps around Tobruk, about 70 miles from the border.

The expulsions raised fears of a humanitarian crisis as Egypt and other Arab nations are reluctant to accept expelled Palestinians except those transiting with official papers to Jordan, the Gaza Strip or the West Bank.