Evening star., 1952-05-26
By Dorothy Thompson

Dy Dorothy thompson
BENGASI. Libya (via Airmail)
I'm Rome I met DR.. Garlane
Hopkins. vice-president Of tn,
American Friends of the Middle
East, OF which I am president
and from here on my journey
has had double function: jour.
nalistic, as always, but also tt
establish contacts for our organi-
zation and to explain it to the
functionaries and people Of this
part Of the world.
The double function has had
certain advantages. It has opened
every door in this part of the
world, beginning with the brand
new state of Libya. And opened
doors for Americans, journalists
or otherwise. among the Arabic
speaking peoples are not too fire.
quent. For although the Arab
world likes almost every Ameri-
can it encounters, it dislikes, If
it does not hate, American Middle
Eastern policy.
The reasons for this dislike
meet with various priorities of
emphasis in various parts of the
Middle East. In one place our
policy will be primarily disliked
because the governments and peo-
Piles see 1t backing up unpopular
British and French interests; in
others the primary reason for
hatred and distrust is the Ameri-
can attitude toward the State of
Israel. About all these reactions,
we shall have more to report as
we go along-to Egypt, the Sudan;
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, into
Israel, we hope, and on to Iraq,
and Iran.
Astonishing Welcome.
At any rate, the news that there
existed, in the United States. an
organization devoted to present.
ing the viewpoint of the Arabic
and 1slamic peoples. to promot-
Ing greater knowledge of their
problems, and to fostering q spirit
OF scrupulouS fairness and i'm
partially in our dealings with
them. has travelled throughout
this part Of the world by a kind
OF grapevine, so that DIR. Hopkins
and I have received welcome
which has not only astonished us,
but also astonished our official
representatives in every capital.
BengaSi, where we made our
first stop after Malta, is one of the
two capitals Of Libya. This enor-
NOUS. but sparsely populated
country. largely inhabited by Be-
douinS. was, previous to World
War II, an Italian colony. It was
taken by Italy in 1911, as a basis
for a colonization scheme where
Italy could transplant part of her
surplus population.
In this. Italy was following the
precedent Of other South Euro
pean powers. Centuries before
Christ the Greeks, also suffering
then as now from surplus popula-
ton, invaded this part of North
Africa and built in Cyrenaica, the
province Of which Bengasi (then
called Berenice) is now the capi-
tai, the great city-state Of Cyrene,
the ruins Of which remain to at
test to a civilization of remark
able beauty and prosperity.
Great Seafarers.,
In Libya, also. fiourished the.
great mercantile civilization of
Carthage, founded by the Phoeni-
clans. q people of disputed racial
origin-some say a Semitic race
like the original Arabs; some way
OF Caucasian-Aryan origin-but
at any rate the greatest seafaring
people and merchants of their
days, the people who produced
President Truman's favorite gen.
eral, Hannibal. and Rome's great
est rival until she finally utterly
destroyed their state and their
civilization, giving to our Ian
guage the phrase. "Carthagian
Peace"
In Lbya-at AL Alamein-was
fought in the last World War the
great British battles against Cen
eral Rommel, "the desert fox"
And largely because that battle
was won. Libya is now an in
dependent state. For had Italy re-
mained neutral or fought with
the allies. this area would still be
Italian.
Throughout the entire Italian
occupation and colonization the
greatest resistance came from the
Cyrenaican tribes and the Sen
usl, q Moslem religious organiza-
ton. whom the Italians were
never able to pacify, and who. on
the political side, fought a con-
slant guerrilla war for Cyrenaican|
independence.
The present King of Libya
1dris I, is the fourth successive
leader of the Senusi. Without him
and his leadership no INDEPENDENT
Libya would have been possible
He Is q Cyrenaican, and it is
largely for this reason that al
country Of only 1.250, 900 inhabit-
ants, In an area over 1,4OO miles
long and, in parts, almost as wide
has . capital in Bengasi (Cyre-
naica) and another in Tripolil
CTripolitania), over 400 miles,
away, and separated by desert
with, in effect. a third at Beda
the summer residence Of the King
and one Of the few places with 4
climate tolerable for most Euro
peanS in summer.
This division, arising partly
from distance and the dificultyI
Of governing either province FROM
one central point, and partly from
SAmO mOApnmVv A.