Jewish-Muslim Relations in Libya · 183period. It was based on some 160 Jews, the first to be mobilized to the
Ottoman army in the Tripoli region. They were legally armed and un-
derwent basic military training in 1911, shortly before the Italian inva-
sion. They protected the Jewish quarters of the old city of Tripoli against
attempts by Muslims to penetrate the enclosed Jewish neighborhood
and harm the inhabitants during the short interregnum in early Octo-
ber 1911. Afterwards, the Jewish soldiers disarmed themselves and gave
their weapons to the Italian authorities. The latter, however, returned the
weapons to the Jews when the Italians felt the need to arm population
elements loyal to the regime in order to defend themselves from penetra-
tion attempts by hostile Muslim groups from the region under Ottoman
and rebel control.^32
The last Jewish self-defense organization in Libya was a clandestine
force that was organized following the November 1945 riots.^33 This group
of Tripolitan Jews bought weapons, mainly from the “underworld” and
were trained by Palestinian Jews serving in the British army and by a
special emissary from Palestine, but gradually the organization came un-
der local command. Members were divided into small compartmental-
ized cells and collected money from the community. In addition to their
activities in passive defense and their organization against the riots of
June 1948, they started to place bombs in Tripoli in order to deter Arab
attackers and force the British police and military to increase their protec-
tion of the Jewish inhabitants. The British authorities, aided by informa-
tion provided by the leadership of the community, managed to detect
seven members of this group in November 1948. Explosives, weapons,
and invoices for donations for the operations were found in the homes of
the detainees, who were sentenced to various periods of imprisonment.^34
Following the November 1948 arrests and the announcement of free emi-
gration to Israel in early 1949, these violent acts ceased. The protection of
the Jewish community had improved as a result of the concentration of
the majority of the Jewish population in Tripoli and the presence of Israeli
and international representatives on the scene as well as the desire of the
British authorities to guarantee a swift and orderly emigration to Israel.
Thus, during this period, there were attacks against the Jews, but these
were mainly small-scale local and privately motivated events, on eco-
nomic, religious, or romantic grounds and the central authorities had
usually tried to protect the Jews. When the Jews felt that the authorities
were unable or unwilling to protect them, they organized self-defense or