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Jailed leader Marwan Barghouti may stand for president
The Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti is planning to stand for election for the presidency from his Israeli prison cell, according to his supporters.
"If there is an election, he intends to run like every other Palestinian leader and he would stand a good chance since he is so popular," the close supporter said.
Mr Barghouti, a street-fighter turned politician who gained fame as one of the main leaders of the Palestinian uprising on the West Bank, came out well ahead of any of his rivals in a respected opinion poll in September.
"If there is an election, he intends to run like every other Palestinian leader and he would stand a good chance since he is so popular," the close supporter said.
Mr Barghouti, a street-fighter turned politician who gained fame as one of the main leaders of the Palestinian uprising on the West Bank, came out well ahead of any of his rivals in a respected opinion poll in September.
If he won, it would represent a powerful propaganda coup: the elected leader of the Palestinians kept in an Israeli jail. His supporters hope that such a victory could act as a lever for his release but an Israeli government official said this week it will not free a man serving five life sentences for organising attacks on Israelis.
Mr Barghouti, 45, was one of the leaders in the West Bank of Fatah, the secular fighting and political organisation and the dominant force in Palestinian life, during the first 18 months of the uprising until arrested by the Israelis when they occupied Ramallah in 2002. He is held in isolation in Beersheva.
His wife, Fadwa, said: "He spends 23 hours in his cell and one hour in a covered courtyard with his legs and hands chained. His health was bad before he went to prison and is worse now."
His only contact with the world is speaking through a peephole to his lawyer, who takes messages to the family and political contacts. "I have not seen him for two and a half years," Fadwa, a lawyer who lives in Ramallah, said.
Mr Barghouti, born and raised in the West Bank, is one of a new, younger generation of Palestinian politicians. His popularity comes mainly from his visible presence in the streets during fighting with the Israelis. That popularity increased with his defiance in the Israeli court trying him in Tel Aviv, which he refused to recognise.
According to a poll conducted by Bir Zeit university in September, Mr Arafat received 46% support, with Mr Barghouti on 12%, and two leaders of the Islamist organisation Hamas, Mahmoud Azzahar and Ismaiel Haneyah, on 9% and 8%. The prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, and Mahmoud Abbas, the new chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, hovered around 1%. With Arafat removed from the poll and the question restricted to Mr Barghouti and two other leaders, Mr Barghouti scored 51%, in both the West Bank and Gaza.
The Israeli government wants Mr Qureia or Mr Abbas to succeed Mr Arafat. An Israeli government official said that if the Palestinians voted overwhelmingly for Mr Barghouti, Israel would take it as a sign they were not yet ready for peace.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1350443,00.html
Mr Barghouti, 45, was one of the leaders in the West Bank of Fatah, the secular fighting and political organisation and the dominant force in Palestinian life, during the first 18 months of the uprising until arrested by the Israelis when they occupied Ramallah in 2002. He is held in isolation in Beersheva.
His wife, Fadwa, said: "He spends 23 hours in his cell and one hour in a covered courtyard with his legs and hands chained. His health was bad before he went to prison and is worse now."
His only contact with the world is speaking through a peephole to his lawyer, who takes messages to the family and political contacts. "I have not seen him for two and a half years," Fadwa, a lawyer who lives in Ramallah, said.
Mr Barghouti, born and raised in the West Bank, is one of a new, younger generation of Palestinian politicians. His popularity comes mainly from his visible presence in the streets during fighting with the Israelis. That popularity increased with his defiance in the Israeli court trying him in Tel Aviv, which he refused to recognise.
According to a poll conducted by Bir Zeit university in September, Mr Arafat received 46% support, with Mr Barghouti on 12%, and two leaders of the Islamist organisation Hamas, Mahmoud Azzahar and Ismaiel Haneyah, on 9% and 8%. The prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, and Mahmoud Abbas, the new chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, hovered around 1%. With Arafat removed from the poll and the question restricted to Mr Barghouti and two other leaders, Mr Barghouti scored 51%, in both the West Bank and Gaza.
The Israeli government wants Mr Qureia or Mr Abbas to succeed Mr Arafat. An Israeli government official said that if the Palestinians voted overwhelmingly for Mr Barghouti, Israel would take it as a sign they were not yet ready for peace.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1350443,00.html
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"It is I and my people who should be trying you for occupying my country and tormenting my people. We are your victims, you are our tormentors."
-Marwan Barghouthi to the Israelis judging him in their court
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/658/re1.htm
"They [the Israelis] have also threatened him with unspecified abuses by saying that they will use a 'new strategy' and that they will kill him POLITICALLY [emphasis added] and physically...They also told him that they will put more pressure on him and that they will make him appear as a 'terrorist'."
http://www.ccmep.org/hotnews2/torture052202.htm
-Marwan Barghouthi to the Israelis judging him in their court
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/658/re1.htm
"They [the Israelis] have also threatened him with unspecified abuses by saying that they will use a 'new strategy' and that they will kill him POLITICALLY [emphasis added] and physically...They also told him that they will put more pressure on him and that they will make him appear as a 'terrorist'."
http://www.ccmep.org/hotnews2/torture052202.htm
His Israeli attorney pissed everyone off in the courtroom by calling him the "Palestinian Moses"!
He is fluent in English, Arabic, and even Hebrew. He spoke in fluent Hebrew to the Israeli court which was a monkey trial calculated to assassinate him politically.
"Israelis must abandon the myth that it is possible to have peace and occupation at the same time, that peaceful coexistence is possible between slave and master."
-Marwan Barghouti
http://www.freebarghouti.org/index_en.html
"We have been suffering under your sinister military occupation for over 36 years during which you killed us, tortured us, destroyed our homes and usurped our land. You made our life an enduring hell. We have an inherent moral and legal right to resist your occupation of our country. If you were in our shoes, you most certainly would do the same as we are doing. You would resist..."
-Marwan Barghouti in his defense at his trial
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/658/re1.htm
Here is an interesting interview conducted with him by an Israeli:
Q: You have a degree in history. Did they teach you at Bir Zeit about the Holocaust, for example?
"Of course. I know all of your history. But the Holocaust of the Jewish people does not justify our disaster. There is a refugee problem and it must be solved. Ways can be found. This is the most important point for Palestinians. The truth must be told. We reached a historic decision to recognize Israel, its security, its legitimacy. You still haven't reached your own decision to recognize us and our rights."
Full interview in link below:
He is fluent in English, Arabic, and even Hebrew. He spoke in fluent Hebrew to the Israeli court which was a monkey trial calculated to assassinate him politically.
"Israelis must abandon the myth that it is possible to have peace and occupation at the same time, that peaceful coexistence is possible between slave and master."
-Marwan Barghouti
http://www.freebarghouti.org/index_en.html
"We have been suffering under your sinister military occupation for over 36 years during which you killed us, tortured us, destroyed our homes and usurped our land. You made our life an enduring hell. We have an inherent moral and legal right to resist your occupation of our country. If you were in our shoes, you most certainly would do the same as we are doing. You would resist..."
-Marwan Barghouti in his defense at his trial
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/658/re1.htm
Here is an interesting interview conducted with him by an Israeli:
Q: You have a degree in history. Did they teach you at Bir Zeit about the Holocaust, for example?
"Of course. I know all of your history. But the Holocaust of the Jewish people does not justify our disaster. There is a refugee problem and it must be solved. Ways can be found. This is the most important point for Palestinians. The truth must be told. We reached a historic decision to recognize Israel, its security, its legitimacy. You still haven't reached your own decision to recognize us and our rights."
Full interview in link below:
For more information:
http://www.ccmep.org/hotnews2/interviewwit...
You clip a interview from late 2001 and brand his trial "a monkey trial"? Gimme a break.
If his were a monkey trial, Barghouthi would have been convicted in all counts (33). He was only convicted in eight or so.
If his were a monkey trial, Barghouthi would have been convicted in all counts (33). He was only convicted in eight or so.
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