Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

David Gerbi, a Jew whose family fled Libya more than four decades ago, visited Tripoli's old Jewish synagogue on Monday with big plans. He went to pray and to clean up garbage from a building long empty, though still grand with its soaring arches and butter-colored walls.

Gerbi, a 56-year-old psychoanalyst who has lived in Italy, said he had permission for the restoration from the local Muslim cleric and members of the Transitional National Council, the force that ousted Moammar Gadhafi back in August.

But two days into his effort, it came to an abrupt end.

Residents of the Libyan capital Tripoli are growing increasingly angry at abuses said to be carried out by armed anti-Gadhafi groups. Some allege that once rebel fighting brigades have become criminal gangs, looting and intimidating at will.

The uncertainty surrounding the Palestinian's bid for statehood has kicked up mixed feelings in the West Bank and Israel. Far away from the posturing and news stories, ordinary Palestinians and Israelis have their own thoughts on the idea.

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan would seem to be an unlikely icon for the Palestinians. Yet he is all the rage these days in the Palestinian territories. His picture is everywhere, even in places you would never expect it.

"All your receipts, all your notepads, everything has the picture of Erdogan," says Abdul Rahman Marra, a grocery store owner in the West Bank.

Mara then gestures to the posters of Erdogan on the walls. The Turkish leader stood up to Israel and defended Palestinian rights, Marra says, calling Erdogan the best leader in the Muslim world.

The Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr is always a time of joyous celebration in the Islamic world. The holiday's arrival means that Ramadan, the long month of daytime fasting, is over, and friends and family gather to exchange gifts and share meals.

As it began Wednesday in Tripoli, the holiday carried even greater resonance this year because of the rebel takeover of the Libyan capital.

"It's the big Eid this year," says resident Alaa al-Najaa. "In my life, I haven't seen the people before like that, especially the children."

In Libya, the tide has turned against Moammar Gadhafi and his supporters. And that has left an uncomfortable question for the new rebel authority: What to do with his loyalists and supporters?

One of Moammar Gadhafi's last major strongholds in Tripoli has fallen to rebel forces. Among the survivors of the ferocious street fighting are prisoners from the Abu Salim prison, some of whom have been jailed for more than two decades.

Packed into cars and pickup trucks, Libya's rebels honked their horns and fired into the air as they paraded through Tripoli's central square on Wednesday in a show of force and celebration.

Some fighters deliberately targeted the ancient stone walls of the old city that flank the square — apparently because Moammar Gadhafi used the ramparts as a podium while giving speeches. And everyone is now calling it Martyrs Square, rather than Green Square, which was Gadhafi's term.

The regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi continues to crumble. On Tuesday, rebels stormed Gadhafi's compound in the center of the capital Tripoli.

The Libyan rebels may have stormed into Tripoli on a wave of euphoria Sunday. But they were watchful and deliberate Monday as they realized that Moammar Gadhafi's armed loyalists were still a dangerous presence in many parts of the Libyan capital.

In one contested area, a rebel with a megaphone shouted warnings to his comrades: "Be careful of snipers. The city is not clear yet. Be alert."

But most rebels didn't need to be told. They were already jumpy coming into Tripoli, the grand prize in the rebels' six-month uprising against Gadhafi and his 42 years of rule.

After easy advance into the Libya capital of Tripoli Sunday, rebels are encountering resistance inside the city, especially around the barracks that are Moammar Gadhafi's official residential compound.

It appears to be just a matter of time before the rebels take complete control of the capital. There are reports of heavy fighting near Moammar Gadhafi's compound but there is no sign of Gadhafi.

The Libyan rebels have been on the move this week.

In Gheryan, an important city south of the capital Tripoli, it seemed everyone was celebrating Friday. Women, children, young men, older men and even white-haired grandfathers.

They jumped into trucks and cars and flashed the victory sign to each other in an impromptu parade. The city, which straddles the main road south from Tripoli, was a garrison for Moammar Gadhafi's forces for the past six months. From Gheryan, the military would resupply forces for the frequent battles in the country's Western Mountains.

In Libya, rebel forces have made advances in their battle to unseat Moamar Gadhafi from power. After several days of fierce clashes, opposition fighters have taken the last refinery under Gadhafi's control. The coastal city of Zawiyah, 30 miles from the capital tripoli, is still being contested though.

After weeks with little movement on the battlefield, the dynamic of the Libyan war has changed.

As the rebels came charging down from the Western Mountains and pushed into the important coastal town of Zawiya, they are no longer the ones who appear vulnerable.

Increasingly, Moammar Gadhafi's strongholds, including the capital Tripoli, appear isolated.

About a month ago, I met Mabruk and Malik Eshnuk, a father and son who had traveled from Pittsburgh to western Libya to help rebels battling forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The family originally hails from the Libyan coastal city of Zawiya, but left years ago.

Mabruk and Malik were filled with optimism when I spoke to them. Mabruk, the father, had a ready smile and a voluble manner — he spoke so quickly it was often hard to follow him.

In Libya's rebel east, the defacto government has been disbanded in reaction to the killing of the rebel army chief of staff. It's the latest sign of political disarray and divisions in the rebel camp. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports.

In eastern Libya, the rebel stronghold of Benghazi is filled with tension following the murder last week of the rebels' top military commander.

Abdel-Fattah Younis was killed in mysterious circumstances. Now, members of his family and his tribe — one of the most powerful in Libya — are accusing the rebel authorities of dragging its feet in the investigation.

The sleepy towns in the Western Mountains of Libya come to life right before the country's rebels engage in a fight with the forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The mostly deserted roads suddenly fill with pickup trucks. The rebel fighters bristle with the makeshift weapons that they rely on. The vehicles, some monster trucks, then peel off into the front lines deep in the desert, covered in dried mud that serves as camouflage.

There are clashes going on in the eastern rebel city of Benghazi, yet on the streets of the city, people are preparing for the holy month of Ramadan. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports from Libya on the eve of the Ramada fast.

Rebel commanders in the western mountains of Libya say they are supplying anti-government forces in Tripoli with weapons in advance of a march on the capital.

Claims like this have been made before, and there are still few signs that the rebels can take Moammar Gadhafi's stronghold city. Still, interviews with Tripoli residents who have fled to the western mountains in recent days suggest that Gadhafi's hold on the capital may be weakening.

Preparing For Urban Combat

Land mines are being increasingly used in Libya by Moammar Gadhafi's forces in battlegrounds across the country. Rebels fighting for the eastern town of Brega are being stymied by minefields around the area.

In Libya's western mountains, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines are causing many casualties, but there are few mine experts to help.

On the barren front line in the village of Gualish, rebels take cover from Gadhafi forces (and the relentless sun) behind a sand berm.

There's been more fighting in western Libya as forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi moved to retake control of a village that fell to rebel fighters earlier this week. As news of the latest attack spread, young rebels in the mountain town of Zintan jumped into cars and trucks heading to the front. Civilians fled in the other direction to escape the bombardment.

Rebels in the Nafusa Mountains of western Libya have made substantial gains in recent weeks against forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi. But the fighting has prompted a growing humanitarian crisis in this isolated region southwest of Tripoli.

Fighting across Libya has been characterized by a lack of sophisticated weapons. Pointing to a rusted rifle, a fighter on the front line of a recent battle in the mountains said it's "more than 100 years" old. "Our grandfathers before us use it in front of Italian army in 1911," he said.

Moroccans have voted in favor of a series of constitutional reforms that will limit the powers held by their king. Host Scott Simon gets the details from NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Casablanca.

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Morocco's government says voters there have overwhelmingly passed a series of constitutional reforms which will set new limits on the power of the monarchy. The landslide result was widely expected. As we reported, the reforms would keep Morocco's king as the head of state and ]the military, but the head of government would be a prime minister chosen from the largest party elected to the parliament. Members of the opposition say the changes don't go far enough and are vowing to continue their protests.

Activists in a small flotilla of vessels are set to again challenge Israel's maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip, just a year after a similar attempt led to a deadly confrontation in the Mediterranean.

Eight ships and 300 activists — many of them from the U.S. — plan to set sail this week from Greece. They say they're trying to deliver humanitarian aid to the coastal territory and highlight the plight of the 1.5 million Palestinians who live there.

A newly minted peace deal between rival Palestinian factions is already fraying. Fatah, which rules the West Bank, and the militant group Hamas, which holds sway in Gaza, have been at odds since a civil war broke out in Gaza in 2007.

Last month, the groups signed a reconciliation agreement. The two factions were supposed to announce the composition of a unity government in Cairo this week, but the meeting was postponed following disagreements over who should assume the post of prime minister.

A Microcosmic Election?

Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians are at a standstill. Palestinians say they will now take their drive for statehood to the United Nations this September.

Israel says the move violates previous agreements and is a dangerous act of unilateralism.

But on the ground, Palestinians say some of the trappings of a state are being put in place.

Using A Stamp To Send A Message

NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro profiles a council member in rebel-held Misrata, Libya. The man's father was killed recently in shelling. And, rockets keep his daughter up at night. But he says trying to establish a new government is his most important work.