Libya will allow Jews to visit homes

Libya will allow two Italian Jewish women to visit their ancestral homes.

Al Hayat, a Saudi-owned daily based in London, reported that Libya granted permission for the visits during an official visit this week by its leader, Muammer Gaddafi, to Italy.

Gaddafi, long a pariah in the West, has in recent years traded concessions and humanitarian gestures for signs of acceptance from major industrial nations.

Most of Libya’s ancient Jewish community fled in 1967, when persecution of Jews in Arab nations intensified following Israel’s Six Day War victory.