Libya Denies Role in PLO Raid on Israel
TUNIS, Tunisia — Libya denied U.S. charges Thursday that it was implicated in an abortive Palestinian seaborne raid on a beach near Tel Aviv in May.
“These accusations are without foundation, and Libya has already denied having any link with the attack,” the People’s Bureau for External Relations (foreign ministry) said in a statement.
A recently published State Department document said there was proof that Libya was implicated in the raid carried out by the Palestine Liberation Front, a faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
“It is no accident that the State Department document was published now,” the Libyan news agency JANA, monitored in Tunis, quoted the bureau as saying.
“Any analyst will understand that it is to divert attention from what is happening in the (Persian) gulf and silence Arab voices who condemn and reject foreign intervention in the area,” it added.
The beach raid led to the suspension by Washington of the dialogue between the United States and the PLO.
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