TRIPOLI, Libya
The leader of Libya's
government said Sunday that he had suspended his foreign minister after her
Israeli counterpart announced he had held talks with her last week in Rome.Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush
Najla al-Mangoush has been
"temporarily suspended" and will be subject to an
"administrative investigation" by a commission chaired by the justice
minister, Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said on Sunday evening in an
official decision posted on Facebook.
The Libyan foreign
ministry described it as a "chance and unofficial encounter", but
news of the meeting had already led to street protests in several Libyan
cities.
The political row broke out
Sunday after Israel's foreign ministry said the two countries' foreign
ministers had met the previous week.
The statement said Israeli
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Mangoush, his Libyan counterpart in the
Tripoli-based administration, spoke at a meeting in Rome hosted by Italian
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
The Israeli statement
described it as the first such diplomatic initiative between the two countries.
"I spoke with the foreign
minister about the great potential for the two countries from their
relations," Cohen said in the statement from Israel's foreign ministry.
But the Libyan foreign
ministry said Sunday evening that Mangoush had "refused to meet with any
party" representing Israel.
"What happened in Rome
was a chance and unofficial encounter, during a meeting with his Italian
counterpart, which did not involve any discussion, agreement or
consultation," the ministry said in a statement.
The minister had reiterated
"in a clear and unambiguous manner Libya's position regarding the Palestinian cause", the statement added.
News of the meeting had
sparked protests in some Libyan cities and a letter from the country's
Presidential Council requesting clarification.
The Libyan foreign ministry
accused Israel of trying to "present this incident" as a
"meeting or talks".
In the Israel foreign ministry
statement, Cohen was quoted as saying that the two discussed "the
importance of preserving the heritage of Libyan Jews, which includes renovating
synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in the country".
"Libya's size and
strategic location offer a huge opportunity for the State of Israel," he
added.
There was no immediate
confirmation of the meeting from Rome.
Earlier on Sunday evening,
Libya's Presidential Council requested "clarifications" from the
government, according to Libya al-Ahrar TV, citing correspondence from
spokeswoman Najwa Wheba.
The Presidential Council,
which has some executive powers and sprang from the UN-backed political
process, includes three members representing the three Libyan provinces.
The letter said that this
development "does not reflect the foreign policy of the Libyan state, does
not represent the Libyan national constants and is considered a violation of
Libyan laws which criminalise normalisation with the 'Zionist entity'".
It asked the head of
government "to apply the law if the meeting took place".
On the streets of Tripoli and
its suburbs, protests erupted Sunday evening in a sign of refusal of
normalisation with Israel. The protests spread to other cities where young
people blocked roads, burned tyres and waved the Palestinian flag.
Like several other North
African countries, Libya has a rich Jewish heritage.
But during decades of rule by
former Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, who was a strong supporter of the
Palestinian cause, thousands of Jews were expelled from Libya and many
synagogues were destroyed.
Kadhafi was overthrown and
killed in 2011 by a NATO-backed uprising that plunged the country into more
than a decade of chaos and lawlessness.
The country is split
politically with rival administrations -- the Tripoli government in the west
and another in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
Israel has normalised
relations with some Arab countries in recent years as part of US-backed deals
known as the Abraham Accords.
However, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline government has come under intense criticism from
Arab states because of surging violence in the West Bank and for backing the
expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territory.
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