Gadhafi Expert Warns Libyan Leader Will Fight 'Until the End'

JERUSALEM -- The violence in Libya is worse than reported and Moammar Gadhafi will battle the opposition to the bitter end, says a native Libyan and Jewish activist who has met the dictator several times.

"Don't underestimate Gadhafi; he will keep fighting until the end," said Raphael Luzon, the head of the London-based Association of Libyan Jews. Luzon, who was born in Benghazi and remains in close touch with opposition leaders in Libya, told AOL News in a telephone interview that the bloodshed is much worse than has been reported and the death toll has already reached thousands.

"Gadhafi remains strong in Tripoli, and each of his sons is also very strong," he said. "Everyone is now waiting for the next big assault, and we can expect a lot of bloodshed."

Luzon, a longtime journalist, said he did not believe that Gadhafi, whom he has met personally several times, would ever leave Libya the way Hosni Mubarak left Egypt. "He is a Bedouin, born in the desert, and the idea of honor is very important," he said. "Although some of his sons would like to leave the country and live the good life somewhere else, Gadhafi will either
be killed fighting or commit suicide. He won't leave."

According to Luzon's contacts in Benghazi and Tripoli, many areas have experienced shortages of food and medicine in the past 48 hours. His comments came as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said that the U.S. will maintain political and economic pressure on
Gadhafi until he steps down.

Speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America," Rice said it was premature to talk about giving the Libyan rebels support, saying there isn't any clear-cut unified opposition yet. Luzon agreed, saying that almost 75 percent of the Libyan population is younger than 40, and that they do not know any ruler other than Gadhafi, who has been in power for 41 years.

But Luzon said he believes that a liberal, democratic opposition will emerge. "Most Libyans are very secular like Tunisians and Moroccans," he told AOL News. "They like the good life. I don't think we will see a religious opposition there."

Israeli officials are concerned that in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood is strong, as well as in Tunisia, Morocco and Libya, militant Islamists could seize power. "The fear is that they will be hijacked, following the model of Iran, of Hezbollah in Lebanon and of Hamas in Gaza," Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said today.

So far, the focus of the demonstrations in Libya and elsewhere has not been anti-Israel or anti-Jewish. But Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh today told a group of students at Sanaa University that "the wave of political unrest sweeping across the Arab world is a conspiracy that serves Israel and the Zionists. [The protests] are being directed by the White House, and the control center for destabilizing the Arab world is in Tel Aviv."

These comments are familiar to Luzon. He was forced to flee Benghazi in 1967 after an attack killed 18 Jews. In the 1930s and '40s, tens of thousands of Jews were living in Libya, and more than 25 percent of Tripoli's population was Jewish. But after the creation of Israel in 1948 and increasing anti-Jewish feeling, most left. Today no Jews are believed to be living in Libya.