Jewish-Muslim Relations in Libya · 191The authorities tried to prevent the escape of Jewish capital by putting
property whose owners had left Libya under state custodianship and at
risk of expropriation. Warnings to this effect had been voiced by Libyan
leaders already in 1952, and real measures were taken from 1961 on. In
order not to be accused of anti-Jewish legislation, the laws which were
legislated for this purpose were not explicitly against Jews but covered
all those who had left Libya, especially those who had kept contacts with
an enemy state: Israel. These developments coincided with Libya’s join-
ing the Arab boycott against Israel, which in 1957 opened an office in
Tripoli overseeing the boycott. The law of 21 March 1961 put under the
Custodian over Enemy Property all the possessions of anyone who had
emigrated to Israel or who maintained contact with it. Additional laws
forbade real estate businesses with Jews, and companies had to include
on their board at least 51 percent Libyan citizens, namely, Muslims. The
situation had aggravated further following Mu ̔ammar al-Qaḍafi’s 1
September 1969 revolution. On 7 February 1970, the property of anyone
living permanently outside Libya was put under state custodianship.
Following a number of additional statutes, the legislative process was
completed with the 21 July 1970 law that returned to the Libyan people
all the properties that were put under custodianship. The law stated that
the government would establish a committee that would decide on com-
pensation for these properties in the form of government bonds, to be
paid off in fifteen years. Such a committee was never established, and no
compensation was ever paid.^58
At that stage there were virtually no Jews left in Libya. Some 6,000
Jews, most of them very wealthy, left Libya in June 1967 following the Six
Day War, when they were allowed to take with them only £20 each. Until
that time, they continued to control the international trade, and many of
the trading houses in Libya were owned by Jews, although they usually
had to operate with a Muslim partner. The growing oil market of the
1960s also benefited many of the Jews who remained in Libya, some of
whom became extremely wealthy. A large number of this group moved to
Italy in the late 1960s, and some of them continued to be active in the eco-
nomic life of Libya from their new base, with the help of local partners.
Thus, from a state of Jewish-Muslim economic interdependence, Libya
became the owner of Jewish property, with only a few Libyan Jews, who
were by then living in Italy, still involved in Libya’s economy as condi-
tions allowed.