26th Day: Grey Deserts

A Grey Desert Called Libya

How did Saif al-Eslam al-Gadhafi escape the Libyan Rebel's custody?

How did Mohammad al-Gadhafi escape on the same day?

Libya Uprising: The Best Photos- LIFE

Shots were heard on live television as Mohammad was talking to Aljazeera, "In my house!" he answered the TV anchor who asked where was the shooting noises coming from. "In my house!" he repeated at least five or six times sounding very nervous. The call was cut short. Shortly the news were out: He was said to have escaped his home arrest with Gadhafi forces.

I felt a slight sympathy to him, perhaps as he was making his last prayers, "lā ʾilāha ʾillallāh, Muḥammad rasūlu-llāh" (There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God). But I could not feel any sort of remorse to the man who owns the Libyan General Posts and Telecommunications Company, the company responsible for blacking out Libya for months, cutting phone calls and internet to suppressing the truth away from any possible international support of the Libyan revolution and not allow the free flow of information from Libya to reach past Bab al-Azizia.

Saif al-Eslam was a whole different deal. If he was my neighbor, we'd be on eternal bad terms. I never quite felt gloat over anyone more so than I did on the day the obnoxious, spoiled-brat was said to have been arrested. The invalid jerk who sounded equally delusional as his father made all sorts of insulting comments about the revolution and was equally responsible for heinous war-crimes committed against the Libyan people. His appearance showed the same repugnant arrogant kid challenging the revolution, as if the Capital he was speaking from has not arose against his family's tyranny. When asked about his alleged ICC trial his answer was "TOZ!" an Arabic slang losely translates as "To Hell with!"

Their was a shared sense of betrayal. As I followed the tweets, some where already losing faith in the Libyan NTC and ICC.

I felt enraged, and my heart was slightly being eaten out as Saif al-Eslam was confidently and provocatively walking among the reporters claiming NTC was lying. Guessing how both sons of Gadhafi were captured then freed I allowed myself to believe the Libyan pre-revolution rumors about Gadhafi working directly with the devil! It took the rebels another 20 hours to capture Bab al-Azizia, Gadhafi's last remaining stronghold in Tripoli. Footage showed the rebels climbing the statue of the Airplane and Iron-fist (picture in yesterday's post) located inside the compound in an effort to bring it down. So, knowing that the Gadhafi family were wandering around aimlessly was enough revenge for me for today's little disappointment. (Following the tweets of CNN journalist Matthew Chance, it seems like the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli where Saif al-Eslam appeared was still under the Gadhafi forces.)

As Libya was nearing it's inevitable route to freedom, the Syrian dictatorship was still living in its imaginary world. Up until today, the Syrian media were in full denial about Tripoli's capture by the revolutionaries. The state-run media focused on the footage of a free Saif al-Eslam [I am assuming] in an effort to prove to their Syrian audience that Western Media and the much despised-by-Arab-dictatorships Aljazeera and even Alarabya Satellite televisions were spreading lies, in an effort by the government to further harness the public outrage over the numerous atrocities that were being committed against the Syrian people.

Around 3:00 AM this morning Aljazeera showed a mobile-phone clip of an army officer, said to have split away from the army, being tortured by his former superiors who were forcing him to "swear" by Bashar and Maher al-Assad in blasphemy. The words he was being forced to utter in "worship of" Bashar and Maher will certainly have an equal response as that of the footage of mosque towers in Lattakia and Hama being bombed by the Syrian army. These footage are spreading outrage and convincing more Syrians to fight their government which they now see as not only anti-human, but also as Kuffar or blasphemous.

Today started with a disappointment but ended with utter content. Libya has now sealed the coffin on over four decades of brutal dictatorship and will start building itself from scratch. A good post on twitter to describe the situation came from a jubilant @Jonny_Hallam who wrote: "A front line Dr in #Benghazi just told me: 'we've done the easypart, now here comes the hard part... starting a country from Zero.'"

Gaza's Foreign Retainers

Riot Police dispersing pro-Kurdish Demonstration- Haaretz

Today witnessed a new heart-break which I will not go into it's details as it requires further brainstorming. It was the Turkish attack on the Kurds in Northern Iraq. The act could not have come at a worst timing costing the lives of at least 100 Kurds (armed or otherwise), and only days after Turkey's official criticism of Israel's attack on Gaza. This assault will most likely expose the double standards of the Turkish government to the Palestinians as it will strengthen Israel's public position equating Israeli actions to those of Turkey, and the Gazans to the Kurdish population when it responds to Turkey's allegations. Palestinians so far look highly up to the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; however, finding common ground between Turkey and Israel will most likely jeopardize Turkey's position and the trust it has gained so far in the region.

Israeli war cabinet has voted against expanding the deadly attacks on Gaza into a full-fledged war. Some media guessed that Israel took this stance to stop the assault as a precautionary step which will evade Israel from an international isolation. Equally, other media assumed that it happened out of lack of international support for such an assault which was only supported by an Israeli version of the story that simply did not add up together.

However, Israel never needed international legitimacy to attack Gaza or elsewhere. Infact, Israel has always simply ignored international discontent and supported its own unlawful decision by playing the "security" cards claiming a war was a "precautionary necessity".  Perhaps the most convincing argument as to why did Israel decide to pull back came today from an article written by Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian writer and blogger who co-founded the website Electronic Intifada. The article argues that Egyptian demonstrating in front of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo demanding an end to the Egypt-Israel peace treaty were the strongest element which helped in stopping a major bloodshed. Abunimeh wrote that the "people's power" put a stop to the assault thus saving more Palestinian lives. He wrote: "...it is governments being forced to respond to people power – especially in Egypt, where tens of thousands of people rallied outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo, in protest at Israel’s killing of five Egyptian military personnel during the Eilat operation, and Israel’s attacks on Palestinians." He argued that "not only actual protests, but even the mere threat of mass, nonviolent, popular protest can constrain Israeli occupiers".

It was relieving to know that Gaza was mostly quite after Israel's war cabinet decided to pull back from a major escalation. To that, I say thank you to the tens of thousands of proud and strong Egyptians who demanded a stop to Israel's aggression. Also, to the Libyan people (population number similar to that of the Palestinians) whose regained independence would be a new incentive for Palestinians to realize that they don't have to pick the lesser of the worst possible options, and to know they can have it their way through diplomacy and armed resistance at the same time.

27th Day: Libya Overcomes

Benghazi was the first liberated city in Libya and the
"cradle of revolt against" Gaddafi - [Malaysian Insider]

The Libyan Revolution won on the first hour of this day in an unanticipated advance that sent shocks across the World. 

Again, I was unable to go to sleep before I was sure the news were completely true and before I examined the euphoric chants of tens of thousands of residents of Benghazi (freed during the first phases of the revolution). Those were enough proof that the revolution has overcome months of fighting. Young Tripolitanian men stomped the portraits of the colonel, firing guns in the air in celebration, and news about residents welcoming the revolutionaries with open arms were spreading across the news. I am still amazed by how fast things have unfolded in the past 24 hours.

The revolution had officially started on February 17th (Twitter's Hashtag #Feb17) after Libyans called for marches against nearly 42 years of brutal dictatorship under Col. Muammar Gaddafi. During the first days of the revolution, Television stations brought clips of demonstrations literary growing as they marched on high-ways across Libya. 

Some said that a joke that dispersed quickly from Tunisia to Egypt had stirred the uprising. The joke goes as follow: "Tunisians, having won the revolution and got rid of their own tyrant, ask Libyans [whose country is situated half way between them and Egypt] to stoop a little so they can see the real men of Egypt". The joke quickly dispersed across the region, touching on the traditional and historic machismo of Libyan men. The joke may have brought few laughs here and there but it certainly was an insult to the man-hood of Libyan men who quickly wanted their leader out. 

Gaddafi Airplane and Iron-Fist Sculpture, symbol used
to crush US planes and the Libyan opposition- from [Wikipedia]

Certainly, the joke could not have toppled a regime, but people went out on the streets two days before the proposed date for the revolution in an act of rebellion on February 15th inspired by two successful revolutions in their Arab neighboring countries and in defiance of Gaddafi who was claiming that Libya cannot be as "stupid' as it's neighboring nations. Gaddafi who had praised Tunisia's Ben Ali after he was ousted and claimed Egyptian revolutionaries were hired US Agents with Agendas, was already way too overdue in the eyes of young Libyans who now wanted to be part of a changing region. Gaddafi first claimed that the uprising in Libya was being run by mislead kids who brought some of what remained of the alleged agendas from Tahrir Square (suggesting the agendas were actual documents!).  

The further the revolution ignited the more Gaddafi was finding creative terms to brand the revolutionaries. During his infamous cuckoo speech at his compound which was left in ruins for 25 years after it was bombed during a US assault on Tripoli in 1986, Gaddafi called the rebels "rats" "roaches" "stray dogs", and claimed they were victims to "hallucination pills" and other drugs, urging their parents to "take them inside their homes" before they would cause further damage. 

But the revolution continued, and soon, it was no longer being referred to as a revolution on various televisions and other media sources as terms describing the situation shifted from "civil unrest" to "civil war". Soon, I lost track of what was happening there since the news were similar everyday and I feared Libya will be divided into two countries: The Eastern Libya with Benghazi as it's capital city (historically known as Cyrenaica) and Western Libya with Tripoli as it's capital city (historically known as Tripolitania). 

The NATO intervension was making the picture even bleaker. With the little trust I and so many numerous Arabs had of it (regardless of the , it was hard to continue openly support all of the decisions taken by the revolution. Nonetheless, I could not disapprove of bringing in the NATO decision, as I was certainly not the one living under a maniac and an oppressive dictatorship. My discontent was the decisions taken by the NATO alliance especially with the war taking way longer than having anticipated which I feared will be paid for heavily by Libyans after the revolution.

Today, I felt quite jealous of Libyans. I do admit it, but I felt ecstatically proud as well. The Libyans have taken the route of diplomacy as well as armed resistance in order to achieve their goal towards freedom. Whereas we, the Palestinians, were still discussing the feasability of calling in the NATO forces, affirming our embracement of sterile Arabist nationalist polimics, and the futile support of losing non-armed martyrs with absolutely zero-gains and losses on all ends.

Today, so many Libyans expressed their joy via twitter. Some of the most disheartening tweets came from @ShababLibya (LibyanYouthMovement) who recalled his uncle “Sadig Al Shwehdi, one of the most famous victims of Gaddafii's crimes hanged on live TV in the 80s”. To recall every single crime committed by Gaddafi is a taint in the face of humanity, one that stood in silence watching decades of brutality go unaccountable for. 

Most Palestinians I know were happy that today marked the day Libya’s Gaddafi was gone. Many Palestinians recall Gaddafi with utmost abhorrence: On the one hand he was the one who kicked Palestinians out to the borders of Libya ordering them to go back home to liberate Palestine if they so wished to. His insults towards the Palestinians were not over even only last week as Gaddafi branded fleeing Tripolitanians and other Libyans as “Palestinians and Somali’s”, in an attempt to stigmatize these nations, and degrade Libyans taking refuge far from fighting. On the other end, few Arabs and Palestinians were quick to judge the revolution based on its decision to allow NATO forces. Via twitter, one of the most expressive tweets regarding the situation came from @Cyrenaican, a Libyan who wrote in admonition: “How dare you let NATO intervention trump ur sympathy or support for the Libyan ppl, who fought vs this brutal regime w/ everything they had […] We fought and died, with incredible bravery, sacrifice. How can you not be happy for us? Why should we not celebrate?” 

I felt an urge to respond to him, to tell him that we supported him and all other Libyans who were hungry for liberation and freedom. Palestinians have made numerous mistakes when it came to our POV regarding other’s decisions when it concerned freedom and liberation: We made the mistake in Iraq, in Kuwait, even in PLO’s official stance on Western Sahara which angered those who assumed they could find in a Palestinian supporter further reason for an international sympathy. The mistake could not have repeated itself in Libya. Why should we exemplify revolutionaries yet dare make so many numerous mistakes when it comes to the freedom and independence others seek? 

I showed my support of Libya from the beginning, and I still do. I know Cyrenaicans now know the true taste of freedom, and so are all Libyans who fought tirelessly until this day. 

On the 27th day prior to an alleged Palestinian Authority “Statehood”, I am not confident the PA has stood on the right side of the equation. Once again, we are frowned upon by those seeking freedom. The Palestinian Authority is too cautious to take strong sides, and to assert itself as a decisive decision maker in the region. What seems to matter to the PA is to keep a neutral stance as to keep the room open had things shifted in the future. The PA, once again, proves to be playing an endless political game in order to secure the most gains, even when it came to a revolution already won.

PS: By the time this article was written, Col. Muammar Gaddafi's whereabouts were unknown. Two of his sons were arrested and one of them already escaped with the help of some of the remaining Gaddafi forces.