US Denies Links with Efforts to Postpone Libyan Elections

A photo distributed by the US Ambassador to Libya during his visit to a polling station accompanied by the Head of the Electoral Commission in Tripoli.
A photo distributed by the US Ambassador to Libya during his visit to a polling station accompanied by the Head of the Electoral Commission in Tripoli.
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US Denies Links with Efforts to Postpone Libyan Elections

A photo distributed by the US Ambassador to Libya during his visit to a polling station accompanied by the Head of the Electoral Commission in Tripoli.
A photo distributed by the US Ambassador to Libya during his visit to a polling station accompanied by the Head of the Electoral Commission in Tripoli.

The United States has denied any intervention in Libya’s affairs, affirming that the country’s fate and its elections is a matter only Libyans get to decide.

Spokesman for the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) had refuted what was attributed to UN Special Advisor for Libya Stephanie Williams about a road map related to the elections, scheduled for December 24.

He pointed out that her mission is to lead the mediation efforts between the Libyans to help them implement the three-point-plan emanating from the Berlin conference, including supporting the elections not deciding its outcomes.

Williams is currently conducting consultations and listening to the point of views of involved Libyan parties from various political, social and security spectrums, the spokesman affirmed, noting that only Libyans get to have decisions on the upcoming elections.

The US Special Envoy and Ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, arrived in Tripoli on Monday for discussions on providing support for the electoral process.

“The US continues to support the vast majority of Libyans who want elections and to cast a vote for their country’s future,” Norland said.

“A major takeaway from our visit is that Libyans, and numerous Libyan institutions and organizations, are working toward this goal.”

He pointed out that the US is working to be a partner in this process, allowing Libyans to make the choice, adding that it does not support any particular candidate, but rather the process.

“The US will continue to engage with Libyan institutions and leaders with the goal of peaceful, free, fair, inclusive and credible presidential and parliamentary elections that will pave the way for a unified and stable future for Libya.,” Norland asserted.

The ambassador met with Head of Libya’ss Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah for a discussion of key Libyan issues in the context of the electoral campaign.

He also met with Williams and several Libyan officials and civil society activists.



Anxiety Clouds Easter for West Bank Christians

Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
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Anxiety Clouds Easter for West Bank Christians

Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP

In the mainly Christian Palestinian town of Zababdeh, the runup to Easter has been overshadowed by nearby Israeli military operations, which have proliferated in the occupied West Bank alongside the Gaza war.

This year unusually Easter falls on the same weekend for all of the town's main Christian communities -- Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican --- and residents have attempted to busy themselves with holiday traditions like making date cakes or getting ready for the scout parade.

But their minds have been elsewhere.

Dozens of families from nearby Jenin have found refuge in Zababdeh from the continual Israeli military operations that have devastated the city and its adjacent refugee camp this year.

"The other day, the (Israeli) army entered Jenin, people were panicking, families were running to pick up their children," said Zababdeh resident Janet Ghanam.

"There is a constant fear, you go to bed with it, you wake up with it," the 57-year-old Anglican added, before rushing off to one of the last Lenten prayers before Easter.

Ghanam said her son had told her he would not be able to visit her for Easter this year, for fear of being stuck at the Israeli military roadblocks that have mushroomed across the territory.

Zabadeh's Anglican church was busy in the runup to Easter but across the West Bank Christian communities have been in sharp decline as people emigrate in search of a better life abroad.

Zabadeh looks idyllic, nestled in the hills of the northern West Bank, but the roar of Israeli air force jets sometimes drowns out the sound of its church bells.

"It led to a lot of people to think: 'Okay, am I going to stay in my home for the next five years?'" said Saleem Kasabreh, an Anglican deacon in the town.

"Would my home be taken away? Would they bomb my home?"

- 'Existential threat' -

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and in recent months far-right ministers in its coalition government have called for the annexation of swathes of the territory.

Kasabreh said this "existential threat" was compounded by constant "depression" at the news from Gaza, where the death toll from the Israel's response to Hamas's October 2023 attack now tops 51,000, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Work has been hard to find for Zababdeh's mainly Christian residents since Israel rescinded Palestinian work permits following the October 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war.

Zababdeh has been spared the devastation wreaked on Gaza, but the mayor's office says nearly 450 townspeople lost their jobs in Israel when Palestinian work permits were rescinded after the Hamas attack.

"Israel had never completely closed us in the West Bank before this war," said 73-year-old farmer Ibrahim Daoud. "Nobody knows what will happen".

Many say they are stalked by the spectre of exile, with departures abroad fuelling fears that Christians may disappear from the Holy Land.

"People can't stay without work and life isn't easy," said 60-year-old maths teacher Tareq Ibrahim.

Mayor Ghassan Daibes echoed his point.

"For a Christian community to survive, there must be stability, security and decent living conditions. It's a reality, not a call for emigration," he said.

"But I´m speaking from lived experience: Christians used to make up 30 percent of the population in Palestine; today, they are less than one percent.

"And this number keeps decreasing. In my own family, I have three brothers abroad -- one in Germany, the other two in the United States."

Catholic priest Father Elias Tabban insists the hard times his congregation has been going though have deepened their faith.

Catholic priest Elias Tabban adopted a more stoical attitude, insisting his congregation's spirituality had never been so vibrant.

"Whenever the Church is in hard times... (that's when) you see the faith is growing," Tabban said.