Marwan Barghouti
Encyclopedia
Marwan Hasib Ibrahim Barghouti (born June 6, 1959) is a Palestinian
political figure. He is regarded as a leader of the First
and Second Intifadas. Barghouti at one time supported the peace process, but later became disillusioned, and after 2000 went on to become the main figure behind the Al-Aqsa Intifada
in the West Bank
. Barghouti is said to have founded Tanzim
. He is also referred to by Uri Avnery
as "Palestine's Mandela
".
Barghouti has also been called a terrorist, and has been accused by Israeli authorities of directing numerous attacks and suicide bombings against civilians. Barghouti was arrested by Israel Defense Forces
in 2002 in Ramallah
. Israeli authorities accused him of murder of Israel
i civilians and attacks on Israeli soldiers. He was tried and convicted on charges of murder, and sentenced to five life sentences. Marwan Barghouti refused to present a defense to the charges brought against him, maintaining throughout that the trial was illegal and illegitimate.
Barghouti still exerts great influence in Fatah from within prison. With popularity reaching further than that, there has been some speculation whether he could be a unifying candidate in a bid to succeed Mahmud Abbas.
In the negotiations over the exchange of Palestinian prisoners
for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit
, Hamas insisted on including Marwan Bargouti in the deal with Israel. However, Israel was unwilling to concede to that demand and despite initial reports that he indeed was to be released in the October 11th deal between Israel and Hamas, it was soon denied by Israeli sources.
near Ramallah
, and comes from the Barghouti
clan, an extended family from Deir Ghassaneh. Mustafa Barghouti
, a fellow Palestinian political figure, is a distant cousin. Barghouti was one of seven children, and his father was a migrant worker in Lebanon. His younger brother Muqbel described him as "a naughty and rebellious boy".
Barghouti joined Fatah at age 15, and he was a co-founder of the Fatah Youth Movement (Shabiba) on the West Bank. By the age of 18 in 1976, Barghouti was arrested by Israel for his involvement with Palestinian militant groups. He completed his secondary education and received a high school diploma while in jail. He is fluent in Hebrew.
Barghouti enrolled at Birzeit University
(BZU) in 1983, though arrest and exile meant that he did not receive his B.A. (History and Political Science) until 1994. He earned an M.A. in International Relations, also from Birzeit, in 1998. As an undergraduate, he was active in student politics on behalf of Fatah and headed the BZU Student Council. On 21 October 1984, he married a fellow student, Fadwa Ibrahim. Fadwa took Bachelors and Masters degrees in law and was a prominent advocate in her own right on behalf of Palestinian prisoners, before becoming the leading campaigner for her husband’s release from his current jail term. The couple has a daughter, Ruba (b. 1986), and three sons, Qassam (1985), Sharaf (1989) and Arab (1990).
in 1987, leading Palestinians in a mass uprising against Israel. During the uprising, he was arrested by Israel and deported to Jordan
, where he stayed for seven years until he was permitted to return under the terms of the Oslo Accords
in 1994. In 1996, he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council
, following which he began his active advocacy of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state . He was also a strong campaigner against the corruption festering in the Fatah movement, sometimes coming into conflict with Yasser Arafat
. The formal position occupied by Barghouti was Secretary-General of Fatah
in the West Bank.
By the summer of 2000, Barghouti and Arafat were increasingly at odds with each other, with Barghouti accusing Arafat's administration of corruption and his security services of human rights violations.
, seen as one of the major forces fighting against the Israeli Defense Forces. Barghouti led marches to Israeli checkpoints, where riots broke out against Israeli soldiers and spurred on Palestinians in speeches at funerals and demonstrations, condoning the use of force to expel Israel from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He has stated that, "I, and the Fatah movement to which I belong, strongly oppose attacks and the targeting of civilians inside Israel, our future neighbor, I reserve the right to protect myself, to resist the Israeli occupation of my country and to fight for my freedom" and has said, "I still seek peaceful coexistence between the equal and independent countries of Israel and Palestine based on full withdrawal from Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.". However, during the second intifada Barghouti was accused by Israel of being a senior member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
, an organization which conducted numerous attacks and suicide bombings on civilians both within and outside of Israel proper, and has been accused of having directed some of these bombings personally.
, on April 15, 2002 and transferred to the 'Russian Compound' police station in Jerusalem.
Amos Harel wrote in Haaretz
that Barghouti was arrested by soldiers of the Duchifat Battalion
who had approached the building hidden in an ambulance to avoid detection: “The Duchifat soldiers were squeezed into a protected ambulance in order to arrive as quickly as possible at the house where Barghouti was hiding, and to seal it off. "
Several months later, he was indicted in civilian court on charges of murder and attempted murder stemming from attacks carried out by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades on Israeli soldiers.
Marwan Barghouti refused to present a defense to the charges brought against him, maintaining throughout that the trial was illegal and illegitimate. However, he continued to stress that he supported armed resistance to the Israeli occupation
, but condemned attacks on civilians inside Israel. Nonetheless, the evidence Israel presented at his trial stated that he supported and directed such attacks. On May 20, 2004, he was convicted of 5 counts of murder – including authorizing and organizing the Sea Food Market attack in Tel Aviv in which 3 civilians inside Israel were killed. He was acquitted of 21 counts of murder in 33 other attacks for "lack of sufficient evidence." On June 6, 2004, he was sentenced to five life sentences for the five murders and 40 years imprisonment for the attempted murder.
. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz
wrote that Barghouti "is seen by some as a Palestinian Nelson Mandela, the man who could galvanize a drifting and divided national movement if only he were set free by Israel."
Some focus on the illegality of Barghouti's arrest, pointing to his diplomatic immunity as a member of the Palestinian Parliament, as well as to the fact that he was arrested in an area over which Israel has no jurisdiction. They also point out that the transfer of a prisoner from occupied territory to the territory of the occupier violates the Fourth Geneva Convention
.
Another approach is to suggest that Israel's freeing of Barghouti would be an excellent show of good faith in the peace process. This view gained popularity among the Israeli left after the 2005 Disengagement
from the Gaza Strip
. Still others, operating from a realpolitik
perspective, have pointed out that allowing Barghouti to re-enter Palestinian politics could serve to bolster Fatah against gains in Hamas
' popularity. According to Pinhas Inbari
of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
,
Following Barghouti's January 2006 re-election to the Palestinian Legislative Council
, a debate over Barghouti's fate began anew in Israel, ranging from Yahad leader and former MK Yossi Beilin's
support for a Presidential pardon to the total refusal of any idea of early release. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom
stated,
However several MKs, including Kadima MK Meir Sheetrit
, suggested that Barghouti will likely be released as part of future peace negotiations, although they did not specify when. In January 2007, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres
declared that he would sign a presidential pardon for Marwan Barghouti if elected to the Israeli presidency. However, despite Peres winning the presidency, the signing of such a pardon has yet to be announced.
("The Future"), mainly composed of members of Fatah's "Young Guard", who have repeatedly expressed frustration with the entrenched corruption in the party. The list, which was presented to the Palestinian Authority's central elections committee on that day, includes Mohammed Dahlan
, Kadoura Fares, Samir Mashharawi and Jibril Rajoub
.
The split followed Barghouti's earlier refusal of Mahmoud Abbas'
offer to be second on the Fatah party's parliamentary list, behind Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei
. Barghouti had actually topped the list, but this had not become apparent until after the new party had been registered.
Reactions to the news was split. Some suggested that the move was a positive step towards peace, as Barghouti's new party could help reform major problems in Palestinian government. Others raised concern that it could wind up splitting the Fatah vote, inadvertently helping Hamas. Barghouti's supporters argued that al-Mustaqbal would split the votes of both parties, both from disenchanted Fatah members as well as moderate Hamas voters who do not agree with Hamas' political goals, but rather its social work and hard position on corruption. Some observers also hypothesized that the formation of al-Mustaqbal was mostly a negotiating tactic to get members of the Young Guard into higher positions of power within Fatah and its electoral list.
Barghouti eventually was convinced that the idea of leading a new party, especially one that was created by splitting from Fatah, would be unrealistic while he was still in prison. Instead he stood as a Fatah candidate in the January 2006 PLC
elections, comfortably regaining his seat in the Palestinian Parliament.
, called for following the death of President Yasser Arafat
in November. On November 26, 2004, it appeared he would withdraw from the contest following pressure from the Fatah
faction to support the candidacy of Mahmoud Abbas
. However, just before the deadline on December 1, Barghouti's wife registered him as an independent candidate. On December 12, facing pressure from Fatah to withdraw in favor of Abbas, he chose to abandon his candidacy for the benefit of Palestinian unity. On May 11, 2006, Palestinian leaders held in Israeli prisons released the National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners
. The document was a proposal initiated by Marwan Barghouti and leaders of Hamas
, the PFLP, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the DFLP that proposed a basis upon which a coalition government should be formed in the Palestinian Legislative Council
. This came as a result of the political stalemate in the Palestinian territories
that followed Hamas' election to the PLC in January 2006. Crucially, the document also called for negotiation with the state of Israel in order to achieve lasting peace. The document quickly gained popular currency and is now considered the bedrock upon which a national unity government should be achieved. According to Haaretz, Barghouti, although not officially represented in the negotiations of a Palestinian unity government in February 2007, played a major role in mediating between Hamas and Fatah and formulating the compromise reached on February 8, 2007. In 2009, he was elected to party leadership at the Fatah Conference in Bethlehem.
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
political figure. He is regarded as a leader of the First
First Intifada
The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
and Second Intifadas. Barghouti at one time supported the peace process, but later became disillusioned, and after 2000 went on to become the main figure behind the Al-Aqsa Intifada
Al-Aqsa Intifada
The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Oslo War, was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
. Barghouti is said to have founded Tanzim
Tanzim
Tanzim is a militant faction of the Palestinian Fatah movement.-Overview:The Tanzim militia, founded in 1995 to counter Palestinian Islamism, is widely considered to be an armed offshoot of Fatah with its own leadership structure...
. He is also referred to by Uri Avnery
Uri Avnery
Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement.A member of the Irgun as a teenager, Avnery sat in the Knesset from 1965–74 and 1979–81...
as "Palestine's Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
".
Barghouti has also been called a terrorist, and has been accused by Israeli authorities of directing numerous attacks and suicide bombings against civilians. Barghouti was arrested by Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
in 2002 in Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
. Israeli authorities accused him of murder of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i civilians and attacks on Israeli soldiers. He was tried and convicted on charges of murder, and sentenced to five life sentences. Marwan Barghouti refused to present a defense to the charges brought against him, maintaining throughout that the trial was illegal and illegitimate.
Barghouti still exerts great influence in Fatah from within prison. With popularity reaching further than that, there has been some speculation whether he could be a unifying candidate in a bid to succeed Mahmud Abbas.
In the negotiations over the exchange of Palestinian prisoners
Palestinian prisoners
Palestinian prisoners in Israel mainly refers to Palestinians imprisoned in Israel following apprehension resulting from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict...
for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit
Gilad Shalit
Gilad Shalit is an Israeli – French citizen and Israel Defense Forces soldier. On 25 June 2006, he was captured inside Israel by Hamas militants in a cross-border raid via underground tunnels near the border with Gaza. The Hamas militants held him for over five years, until he was released on...
, Hamas insisted on including Marwan Bargouti in the deal with Israel. However, Israel was unwilling to concede to that demand and despite initial reports that he indeed was to be released in the October 11th deal between Israel and Hamas, it was soon denied by Israeli sources.
Biography
Barghouti was born in the village of KobarKobar
Kobar is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank, located northwest of Ramallah. The village is situated on a hill at an altitude of 640 meters above sea level and is along Highway 37. Its built-up area consists of about 1,300 dunams and a total...
near Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
, and comes from the Barghouti
Barghouti
Barghouti is the last name of a prominent Palestinian family...
clan, an extended family from Deir Ghassaneh. Mustafa Barghouti
Mustafa Barghouti
Mustafa Barghouti is a Palestinian democracy activist. He was a candidate for the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority in 2005, finishing second to Mahmoud Abbas, with 19% of the vote.Barghouti was born in Jerusalem...
, a fellow Palestinian political figure, is a distant cousin. Barghouti was one of seven children, and his father was a migrant worker in Lebanon. His younger brother Muqbel described him as "a naughty and rebellious boy".
Barghouti joined Fatah at age 15, and he was a co-founder of the Fatah Youth Movement (Shabiba) on the West Bank. By the age of 18 in 1976, Barghouti was arrested by Israel for his involvement with Palestinian militant groups. He completed his secondary education and received a high school diploma while in jail. He is fluent in Hebrew.
Barghouti enrolled at Birzeit University
Birzeit University
Birzeit University is a university located in Birzeit near Ramallah, Palestinian territories. BZU is among the foremost tertiary educational institutes in the Palestinian territories and has played a significant role in the Palestinian political dialogue.- History :The institution was originally...
(BZU) in 1983, though arrest and exile meant that he did not receive his B.A. (History and Political Science) until 1994. He earned an M.A. in International Relations, also from Birzeit, in 1998. As an undergraduate, he was active in student politics on behalf of Fatah and headed the BZU Student Council. On 21 October 1984, he married a fellow student, Fadwa Ibrahim. Fadwa took Bachelors and Masters degrees in law and was a prominent advocate in her own right on behalf of Palestinian prisoners, before becoming the leading campaigner for her husband’s release from his current jail term. The couple has a daughter, Ruba (b. 1986), and three sons, Qassam (1985), Sharaf (1989) and Arab (1990).
First Intifada
Barghouti was one of the major leaders of the First IntifadaFirst Intifada
The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
in 1987, leading Palestinians in a mass uprising against Israel. During the uprising, he was arrested by Israel and deported to Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, where he stayed for seven years until he was permitted to return under the terms of the Oslo Accords
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles , was an attempt to resolve the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict...
in 1994. In 1996, he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council
Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza...
, following which he began his active advocacy of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state . He was also a strong campaigner against the corruption festering in the Fatah movement, sometimes coming into conflict with Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
. The formal position occupied by Barghouti was Secretary-General of Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
in the West Bank.
By the summer of 2000, Barghouti and Arafat were increasingly at odds with each other, with Barghouti accusing Arafat's administration of corruption and his security services of human rights violations.
Second Intifada
As the Second Intifada raged, Barghouti became increasingly popular as a leader of the Fatah armed branch, the TanzimTanzim
Tanzim is a militant faction of the Palestinian Fatah movement.-Overview:The Tanzim militia, founded in 1995 to counter Palestinian Islamism, is widely considered to be an armed offshoot of Fatah with its own leadership structure...
, seen as one of the major forces fighting against the Israeli Defense Forces. Barghouti led marches to Israeli checkpoints, where riots broke out against Israeli soldiers and spurred on Palestinians in speeches at funerals and demonstrations, condoning the use of force to expel Israel from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He has stated that, "I, and the Fatah movement to which I belong, strongly oppose attacks and the targeting of civilians inside Israel, our future neighbor, I reserve the right to protect myself, to resist the Israeli occupation of my country and to fight for my freedom" and has said, "I still seek peaceful coexistence between the equal and independent countries of Israel and Palestine based on full withdrawal from Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.". However, during the second intifada Barghouti was accused by Israel of being a senior member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is a coalition of Palestinian nationalist militias in the West Bank. The group's name refers to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem...
, an organization which conducted numerous attacks and suicide bombings on civilians both within and outside of Israel proper, and has been accused of having directed some of these bombings personally.
Arrest and trial
Barghouti's actions during the Intifada landed him on Israel's most-wanted list, and he escaped an arrest attempt in 2001. However, he was arrested by the Israeli Army in RamallahRamallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
, on April 15, 2002 and transferred to the 'Russian Compound' police station in Jerusalem.
Amos Harel wrote in Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
that Barghouti was arrested by soldiers of the Duchifat Battalion
Duchifat Battalion
The 94th Battalion, known as "Duchifat" , is a battalion in the 900th Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces .-History:The 94th Battalion was established in 1984 as an anti-tank unit...
who had approached the building hidden in an ambulance to avoid detection: “The Duchifat soldiers were squeezed into a protected ambulance in order to arrive as quickly as possible at the house where Barghouti was hiding, and to seal it off. "
Several months later, he was indicted in civilian court on charges of murder and attempted murder stemming from attacks carried out by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades on Israeli soldiers.
Marwan Barghouti refused to present a defense to the charges brought against him, maintaining throughout that the trial was illegal and illegitimate. However, he continued to stress that he supported armed resistance to the Israeli occupation
Israeli-occupied territories
The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...
, but condemned attacks on civilians inside Israel. Nonetheless, the evidence Israel presented at his trial stated that he supported and directed such attacks. On May 20, 2004, he was convicted of 5 counts of murder – including authorizing and organizing the Sea Food Market attack in Tel Aviv in which 3 civilians inside Israel were killed. He was acquitted of 21 counts of murder in 33 other attacks for "lack of sufficient evidence." On June 6, 2004, he was sentenced to five life sentences for the five murders and 40 years imprisonment for the attempted murder.
Campaign for release
Since Barghouti's arrest, many of his supporters have campaigned for his release. They include prominent Palestinian figures, members of European Parliament and the Israeli group Gush ShalomGush Shalom
Gush Shalom is an Israeli peace activism group founded and led by former Irgun and Knesset Member and journalist, Uri Avnery, in 1993...
. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
wrote that Barghouti "is seen by some as a Palestinian Nelson Mandela, the man who could galvanize a drifting and divided national movement if only he were set free by Israel."
Some focus on the illegality of Barghouti's arrest, pointing to his diplomatic immunity as a member of the Palestinian Parliament, as well as to the fact that he was arrested in an area over which Israel has no jurisdiction. They also point out that the transfer of a prisoner from occupied territory to the territory of the occupier violates the Fourth Geneva Convention
Fourth Geneva Convention
The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in August 1949, and defines humanitarian protections for civilians...
.
Another approach is to suggest that Israel's freeing of Barghouti would be an excellent show of good faith in the peace process. This view gained popularity among the Israeli left after the 2005 Disengagement
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...
from the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. Still others, operating from a realpolitik
Realpolitik
Realpolitik refers to politics or diplomacy based primarily on power and on practical and material factors and considerations, rather than ideological notions or moralistic or ethical premises...
perspective, have pointed out that allowing Barghouti to re-enter Palestinian politics could serve to bolster Fatah against gains in Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
' popularity. According to Pinhas Inbari
Pinhas Inbari
Pinhas Inbari is an Israeli correspondent who has reported on Palestinian affairs for Israel Radio and the newspaper Al Hamishmar, and currently for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and several foreign media outlets. He has written several books on the Palestinians, e.g. The Palestinians:...
of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs is a public policy think tank devoted to research and analysis of critical issues facing the Middle East. The center is located in Jerusalem, Israel...
,
- Hamas understands it needs to provide its supporters with some comfort, especially seeing the suffering of the Palestinian people. For this reason, Hamas is willing to accept Barghouti's release and to deal with him after he is free. Without the severe state of the Palestinian people, Hamas would object to the release of Barghouti.
Following Barghouti's January 2006 re-election to the Palestinian Legislative Council
Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza...
, a debate over Barghouti's fate began anew in Israel, ranging from Yahad leader and former MK Yossi Beilin's
Yossi Beilin
Dr. Yosef "Yossi" Beilin is a left-wing Israeli politician and a former Knesset member, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and Justice Minister, representing both the Labor Party and Meretz-Yachad, of which he served as chairman between 2003 and 2006. He is best known for his involvement with the...
support for a Presidential pardon to the total refusal of any idea of early release. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom
Silvan Shalom
' , born 4 October 1958) is an Israeli politician, member of the Knesset for Likud and the country's Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development. He previously served as the country's Foreign Minister and Finance Minister.-Biography:...
stated,
""We must not forget that he is a cold-blooded murderer who was sentenced by the court to five life sentences... It is out of the question to free an assassin who has blood on his hands and was duly sentenced by a court."
However several MKs, including Kadima MK Meir Sheetrit
Meir Sheetrit
Meir Sheetrit is a Moroccan-born Israeli politician. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Kadima. He has served as Minister of the Interior, Minister of Housing & Construction, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, Minister of Transportation and Minister of Education, Culture &...
, suggested that Barghouti will likely be released as part of future peace negotiations, although they did not specify when. In January 2007, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
declared that he would sign a presidential pardon for Marwan Barghouti if elected to the Israeli presidency. However, despite Peres winning the presidency, the signing of such a pardon has yet to be announced.
Split from Fatah
On December 14, 2005, Barghouti announced that he had formed a new political party, al-MustaqbalAl-Mustaqbal
Al-Mustaqbal , The Future, was a Palestinian electoral list headed by Marwan Barghouti and registered in December 2005 for January 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council.- Formation :...
("The Future"), mainly composed of members of Fatah's "Young Guard", who have repeatedly expressed frustration with the entrenched corruption in the party. The list, which was presented to the Palestinian Authority's central elections committee on that day, includes Mohammed Dahlan
Mohammed Dahlan
Mohammed Dahlan born on September 29, 1961 in Khan Younis Refugee Camp, Khan Younis, Gaza Strip also known by the kunya or nom de guerre Abu Fadi is a Palestinian politician, the former leader of Fatah in Gaza...
, Kadoura Fares, Samir Mashharawi and Jibril Rajoub
Jibril Rajoub
Jibril Rajoub is a Palestinian political figure. He was the head of the Preventive Security Force in the West Bank until being dismissed in 2002. He was elected to the Fatah Central Committee at the party's 2009 congress...
.
The split followed Barghouti's earlier refusal of Mahmoud Abbas'
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
offer to be second on the Fatah party's parliamentary list, behind Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei
Ahmed Qurei
Ahmed Ali Mohammed Qurei , also known by his Arabic Kunya Abu Alaa is a former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority...
. Barghouti had actually topped the list, but this had not become apparent until after the new party had been registered.
Reactions to the news was split. Some suggested that the move was a positive step towards peace, as Barghouti's new party could help reform major problems in Palestinian government. Others raised concern that it could wind up splitting the Fatah vote, inadvertently helping Hamas. Barghouti's supporters argued that al-Mustaqbal would split the votes of both parties, both from disenchanted Fatah members as well as moderate Hamas voters who do not agree with Hamas' political goals, but rather its social work and hard position on corruption. Some observers also hypothesized that the formation of al-Mustaqbal was mostly a negotiating tactic to get members of the Young Guard into higher positions of power within Fatah and its electoral list.
Barghouti eventually was convinced that the idea of leading a new party, especially one that was created by splitting from Fatah, would be unrealistic while he was still in prison. Instead he stood as a Fatah candidate in the January 2006 PLC
Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza...
elections, comfortably regaining his seat in the Palestinian Parliament.
Political activity in prison
In late 2004, Barghouti announced from his Israeli prison his intention to run in the Palestinian Authority presidential election in January 2005Palestinian presidential election, 2005
The 2005 Palestinian presidential election — the first to be held since 1996 — took place on January 9, 2005 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Voters elected PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas as the new President of the Palestinian Authority to replace Yasser Arafat, who died on November 11,...
, called for following the death of President Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
in November. On November 26, 2004, it appeared he would withdraw from the contest following pressure from the Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
faction to support the candidacy of Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
. However, just before the deadline on December 1, Barghouti's wife registered him as an independent candidate. On December 12, facing pressure from Fatah to withdraw in favor of Abbas, he chose to abandon his candidacy for the benefit of Palestinian unity. On May 11, 2006, Palestinian leaders held in Israeli prisons released the National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners
Palestinian Prisoners' Document
The "Prisoners' Document," officially the National Reconciliation Document, is a document written in 2006 by Palestinian prisoners who were being held in Israeli jails at the time...
. The document was a proposal initiated by Marwan Barghouti and leaders of Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, the PFLP, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the DFLP that proposed a basis upon which a coalition government should be formed in the Palestinian Legislative Council
Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza...
. This came as a result of the political stalemate in the Palestinian territories
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
that followed Hamas' election to the PLC in January 2006. Crucially, the document also called for negotiation with the state of Israel in order to achieve lasting peace. The document quickly gained popular currency and is now considered the bedrock upon which a national unity government should be achieved. According to Haaretz, Barghouti, although not officially represented in the negotiations of a Palestinian unity government in February 2007, played a major role in mediating between Hamas and Fatah and formulating the compromise reached on February 8, 2007. In 2009, he was elected to party leadership at the Fatah Conference in Bethlehem.
Further reading
- Interview with Marwan Barghouti. "Competing Political Cultures". In: Beinin, Joel; Stein, Rebecca L. (eds) (2006). The Struggle for Sovereignty: Palestine and Israel, 1993-2005. Stanford University PressStanford University PressThe Stanford University Press is the publishing house of Stanford University. In 1892, an independent publishing company was established at the university. The first use of the name "Stanford University Press" in a book's imprinting occurred in 1895...
. pp. 105–111. - Pratt, David (2006). Intifada: The Long Day of Rage. CasemateCasemateA casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress.-Origin of the term:...
. First published by Sunday Herald Books. - Haddad, Toufic. "Changing the Rules of the Game: A Conversation with Marwan Barghouti, Secretary-General of Fateh in the West Bank". In: Honig-Parnass, Tikva; Haddad, Toufic. (eds) (2007). Between the Lines: Readings on Israel, the Palestinians, and the U.S. "War on Terror". Haymarket BooksHaymarket BooksHaymarket Books is a non-profit left-wing book publisher and distributor. It is published by the Center for Economic Research and Social Change...
. pp. 65–69. - Blomfield, Adrian. "Marwan Barghouti could stand as Palestinian president". The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
. 6 November 2009. Accessed 9 August 2011.
External links
- William Hughes: Political Show Trial for Marwan Barghouti
- CS Monitor: The 'Palestinian Napoleon' Behind Mideast Cease-fire
- Bitter Circus Erupts as Israel Indicts a Top Fatah Figure The New York Times, August 15, 2002
- Uri AvneryUri AvneryUri Avnery is an Israeli writer and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement.A member of the Irgun as a teenager, Avnery sat in the Knesset from 1965–74 and 1979–81...
, "Palestine's Mandela", New InternationalistNew InternationalistNew Internationalist is a magazine from New Internationalist Publications, a co-operative-run publisher based in Oxford, England. It has editorial and sales offices in Toronto, Canada; Adelaide, Australia; Christchurch, New Zealand; and New York, USA....
, November 2007 - Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs page about Barghouti