Background:
In this press conference, the-then President Muʿammar al-Qadhāfī invited journalists from around the world to tackle the – believed by some – distorted image global media portrayed about his decision of getting Palestinians out of Libya in 1995.
For more information, please refer to the succeeding tape 1995 Press Conference: President al-Qadhāfī in Sirte II:
http://www.arabwestreport.info/en/1995-press-conference-president-al-qad...
Side A:
At the beginning of the press conference, President Muʿammar al-Qadhāfī proclaimed his concerns about the media attitude against him by accusing them of being biased against him and being in favor of the imperial powers. In a side talk between him and one of the journalists present, al-Qadhāfī commented on the air embargo and economic sanction imposed on Libya by the UN with Anglo-American support in light of the Lockerbie accident. He mentioned that the air embargo and the sanctions will never succeed without liberating the whole Arab nation from imperialism and its interventions.
He argued against the media’s use of the word “deportation” as if those Palestinians were being deported from their own lands, when in reality they were in Libya. Al-Qadhāfī clarified this decision had been meant to push Palestinians back to their lands in Palestine to regain their land. He justified his decision by saying that it had aimed at destructing the western plan of merging native Palestinians with the societies they had migrated to in return for giving up on their right to return to their lands.
Then, he moved to discuss the clauses of the Oslo Accords, and illustrated how tricky it was for the Palestinian people and other Arab nations. Al-Qadhāfī saw that it had not guaranteed any of the Palestinian rights in establishing a Palestinian state and that all what it had come up with was legitimizing the Israeli occupation over the Palestinian territories.
Moreover, he asserted that Palestinian military existence would never exceed responsibility for local internal affairs, while the external would stay in the hands of Israeli authorities. The ex-President saw that as a detraction of Palestinian sovereignty as he called it a mere illusion of Israeli withdrawal, which will depict Ābū ʿAmmār (also known as Yāssir ʿArafāt) as an agent for the occupation inside his territory and his limited role will just serve the Israeli occupation by taking responsibility for suppressing Palestinians by himself.
Side B:
In the following part of the recording, he continues to advise Arab leaders about how to deal with Israeli dangers, and wonders how western powers allow for Israel to own nuclear weapons while simultaneously fighting Arab attempts of obtaining it.
Then, al-Qadhāfī warned that nuclear power will never be used against his country or other little-populated countries in the region, but against Egypt and Syria which had been taking steps towards normalization of relations with Israel. He explains how resolution 242 misled the public opinion and convinced Arab peoples that it would be ensuring Arab rights in Palestine, while it has not mentioned the term “Palestinian state” but just advised handling the Palestinian crisis as a refugee problem, without mentioning self-determination for the Palestinian people. Al-Qadhāfī illustrated on the map signed by parties of Oslo accords, how it is unsuitable to establish a state on it. He criticized it and argued it has ruined the partial democratic system in Palestinian cities by replacing them with Israeli-controlled local councils.
Al-Qadhāfī continues to advise Arab leaders who seek to settle their conflicts with Israel peacefully; that they should do whatever is suitable for their countries either via peace agreements or military confrontation, not at the expense of the Palestinians or in favor of Israeli authorities. He mentions the signing of a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, whereby he argues that Sādāt had done so only to get back Sinai, and according to al-Qadhāfī, had completely neglected the fact that in doing so, he automatically recognized the Israeli seizure of Arab lands, which al-Qadhāfī sees as betrayal.