Libya denies inviting an Israeli official to visit Tripoli

Libya denied yesterday to have had extended an invitation for the deputy chairman of the Israeli Knesset Moshe Kahloun to visit Tripoli, but said it welcomes Jews of Libyan origin.

In a statement to the Qatari al-Jazeera TV, the Libyan deputy foreign minister Hassouna al-Shawish described the call as "mere imagination and an odd one."

The Libyan official said that current law does not permit the entry of Israelis or any other person with an Israeli passport.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli radio announced that Kahloun received an official invitation to visit Libya to be the first Israeli official to visit Tripoli openly, as the radio alleged.

Kahloun, a Jew of Libyan origin, said he will be meeting with the Libyan leader Muammar al-Qathafi during the visit whose date was not set.

The Israeli sources said that some 38,000 Jews were living in Libya in 1948, and that most of them emigrated to Israel and the others to Italy.

In march this year, Seif al-Islam al-Qathafi, son of Muammar al-Qathafi said that Tripoli is ready to compensate the Jews who were evacuated from Libya to Israel or other countries.

He said then to journalists that Tripoli does not seek now to establish relations with Israel, saying it is possible in the future to open up the file of compensations of what was confiscated of properties and assets of the Libyan Jews.