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A number of constant factors helped shape the history of Libya besides geopolitics,
which at times made the country seem to be merely a passageway for conquerors
and merchants (including a once prosperous caravan trade linking central
and west Africa with the Mediterranean). The most important factor is Islam,
which became firmly established in the seventh century soon after the Arab
tribal invasions through North Africa. Equally important is the persistence
of fragmented tribal society and politics in the hinterland which periodically
vied for dominance with the main urban centers (Tripoli and Benghazi, which
were ruled over the centuries by local or imported dynasties, Christian powers,
or a succession of Ottoman governors), thereby preventing enduring stable
central authority. The combination of tribal society and a simple,
socially-oriented practical Islam articulated by the Sanusi leader,
promoted the establishment of a viable community in hinterland Cyrenaica
since the latter part of the 19th century, but not in Tripolitania. There,
urban Tripoli grew economically stronger instead, still surrounded by unruly
tribes. In both regions, however, Islam served as a unfiying factor against
twentieth century European colonialism and for the pursuit of pan-Islamic
goals, transcending weak collective loyalties and nationalist ties. Tribal
Islam was used more aggressively, and for a time successfully, against
Italian colonialism, which began in 1911 and ended with Italy's defeat by
the Allies in WWII, leading to the creation of independent Libya under UN
auspices. Islam, the colonial experience, and pan-Arab ideology were crucial
in the formation of modern Libya, overshadowing nascent democratic
procedures and institutions that, for a brief time, seemed to have potential
under the system of constitutional monarchy. Unlike Tunisia's or Morocco's
pre-independence legacies, Libya's Islamic /pan-Arab legacy was
intermittently expressed by various groups as outright hostility against the
West and non-Muslims in general, including indigenous Jewish communities who, upon the creation of Israel in the Middle East (also by UN vote), were victimized by mobs and eventually had to leave. Under nationalist pressure, fueled by Nasser's
pan-Arab rethoric in the 50's and 60's, the remaining Jews left after they
were again attacked by unrestrained mobs at the beginning of the 1967
Arab-Israeli war. With the advent of Qaddhafi in 1969, Islam and Arabism
became enshrined in Libya's revolutionary ideology , along with Qaddhafi's
elaborate "third way." After almost thirty years and much socio-political
experimenting, a new generation of Libyans has grown with a revolution that
remains largely incomprehensible to outsiders. Questions abound about Libya's
international isolation, its internal policies and continuing hostility to the
West and Israel, its human rights record, and the overall impact of Qaddhafi's
revolution.
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