by Michael Shapiro
from Washington Jewish Week 14/05/1998

He came bearing two things: suggestions on how the Cohens could contribute to this end and a gift - a designer silk scarf for Susan Cohen to cover her head in synagogue.

The Cohens, who lost their 20 year-old daughter Theodora in the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, rejected both.

During the past year, the Libyan government has reached out to the victim's families through several letters asking them to support its proposals to hold an international trial for the two indicted low-level Libyan agents, Al Amin Khalifa Fhima and Abdel Baset Ali Mohamed al Megrahi, and to lift UN sanctions that have been in effect since 1992.

The Cohens view Fellah's visit to their home in Cape May Court House, N.J., as part of the Libyan government's effort to win support for its suggestions. Fellah denies that he was sent by the Libyan government saying he made the trip on his own to bring a resolution to the case, which he believes is affecting the peace process and Arab-Jewish relations.

Fellah, who was recently appointed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat as an advisor on the Karni Industrial Free Trade Zone situated on the border of Israel and Gaza, has been involved in various attempts to bring a resolution to the Pan Am 103 case.

At a time when the United States was concerned that a possible warming of relations between Israel and Libya would hurt its efforts to extradite the two bombing suspects, Fellah was involved in arranging a trip to Jerusalem for 192 Libyan Muslim pilgrims. During the trip, the pilgrims called for the overthrow of the zionist leadership.

Fellah also asked his contacts in Washington if they would be interested in representing Libya in its effort to resolve the case.

While the Cohens have been outspoken in their opposition to making a deal with Libya, Dan Cohen says he agreed to meet with Fellah out of curiousity.

The meeting was arranged by a Abe Karlikow, a former American Jewish Committee representative in Europe, who has known Fellah for many years.

When asked about the meeting, Karlikow, who accompanied Fellah to the Cohen's house, referred questions to Fellah, saying: "It's his baby."

During the several hours of talks, Fellah told the Cohens that his father had been killed in a pogrom in 1945 and that he left Libya in 1957 with almost no money.

Fellah, who met Libyan leader Moammar QAddafi in 1993 concerning efforts to secure compensation for Libyan Jews who fled the country in 1969, also told the Cohens that agreeing to an international trial and backing the establishment of fund for the victims' families could lead to Arab-Jewish reconsiliation.

While some British families have backed an international trial, several Jewish families, including the Cohens and Stephanie Bernstein of Bethesda, who lost her husband Michael in the attack, have rejected this proposal and any Libyan effort to wiggle out from under the UN sanctions.

For his part, Fellah, 63, did not view his efforts as "bargaining with Qaddafi."

"We have to look for real justice, " Fellah told WJW last week, with the noise of Rome's busy streets coming through loud and clear on his cell phone.

"Every government is using the case for its own interest, " he added, saying that continued confrontation between the governments of the United States and Britain, on one side, and Libya, on the other, will not solve anything.

The Cohens told Fellah repeatedly during the meeting that they will not accept anything less than the suspects being put to trial in the United States or Scotland and rejected what a skeptical Susan Cohen described as Fellah's "moral schmear" about his role in promoting Arab-Jewish relations.

Karlikow, according to Dan Cohen, urged Fellah several times to leave but Fellah wanted to continue talking. The meeting ended with Susan Cohen refusing to accept the scarf Fellah tried to give her.

"They left with their long drive up the Garden State Parkway, " says Susan Cohen, who did not change her view as a result of the meeting.

Although Fellah did not succeed in softening the Cohen's stance, he says he respects their position and the fact that they are not seeking compensation for their loss.