Kadafi Threatens to Divert Israeli Airliners to Libya in Retaliation for Intercept of Private Jet

JERUSALEM â€”  Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi said Friday that he has ordered his air force to intercept any Israeli plane within its range over the Mediterranean and force it to land in Libya. Simultaneously, Israel announced that it has rerouted many of its international civilian flights to keep them away from Libyan and Syrian airspace.

Kadafi, telling reporters in Tripoli that he would not interfere with American and other non-Israeli aircraft, said he issued his order in retaliation for Israel’s seizure Tuesday of a Libyan executive jet that was returning to Damascus, Syria, carrying officials who had attended a meeting of Arab leaders in Tripoli.

Israeli air transport officials said they had rerouted flights to and from the United States and Western Europe to keep them as far as possible from hostile Syrian and Libyan weapons. They added that this rerouting had been in effect since midday Thursday.

Israeli officials said they ordered the interception of the Libyan plane in international skies near Cyprus, forcing it to land at an Israeli military field in the mistaken belief that Palestinian terrorist leaders, not identified by name, were on board. Instead, they found seven Syrian officials and two Lebanese on the plane, which was permitted to leave after five hours.

Libya and Syria then threatened to retaliate for the incident, which they called an act of air piracy. On Thursday, the United States vetoed a Syrian-inspired resolution before the U.N. Security Council that would have condemned Israel for the interception.

In announcing the new routes, the Israeli Transport Ministry said that its aim is “to ensure that air links between Israel and other countries will not be interrupted.�

Shai Shamroni, the civil aviation administrator, said in an interview that of the three flight paths previously used for traffic in and out of Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, one “will not be used and another route will be changed slightly.� He declined to give details. It was not immediately clear whether any flights into or out of Israel will fly over the Mediterranean except at its eastern end.

At Ben-Gurion Airport, officials said that 38 flights had landed or taken off Friday, including 15 El Al flights. The Israeli airline halts operations from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday in observance of the Sabbath. The next El Al departure--for Amsterdam, Chicago and Los Angeles--is scheduled for 11:30 p.m. today (1:30 p.m. PST).

Timing in Tripoli Unclear

It is not clear when Kadafi’s order to seize Israeli planes would have gone into effect, but the Libyan leader said it will remain in effect “until we have obliged Israel to obey the rule of law in international air traffic.�

“I have issued orders to the Libyan Arab Air Force to intercept any Israeli passenger airliner flying in the Mediterranean as long as it is within range of the Libyan air bases and force it to land and search its passengers, one by one, in search for Israeli terrorists wanted by Libyan courts,� Kadafi said. His remarks were broadcast by state radio and monitored by the British Broadcasting Corp.

Among the “wanted� Israelis, according to Kadafi, are former Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon, minister of industry and commerce, who as defense minister in 1982 was the architect of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

Kadafi said the presence of the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean would not deter his air force, which has more than 500 combat aircraft, most of them supplied by the Soviet Union. Among the planes are modern MIG-23s and MIG-25s.

“If the Americans commit aggression against our planes, we will attack them,� Kadafi said.

Israeli Self-Criticism

In Israel, meanwhile, newspapers and some government officials stepped up their criticism of Tuesday’s seizure of the Libyan plane, even as the nation’s leaders indicated that they will continue to use unorthodox methods in their battle against terrorism.

The critics charged that the operation had not been thought through, and that if terrorist leaders had been caught, the incident would have turned into a diplomatic and security nightmare.

“People can draw encouragement only from the knowledge that things might have been far worse than they are now,� the Jerusalem Post said in an editorial.

Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir deplored the criticism. “I genuinely regret the public debate among ministers, and even inner Cabinet members, on a subject which is so sensitive and so important in our war against terrorism,� he said in a radio interview.

Referring to Arab threats of revenge for the interception, Prime Minister Shimon Peres told a meeting of Zionist leaders Thursday night that “if anyone tries to commit terror acts against us on the sea, the land or in the air, we will retaliate. . . . We will not hesitate and will not turn the other cheek.�