Archive for November 25th, 2014

Nov 25 2014

Jailed Palestinian leader calls for armed resistance

Published by under Articles,Palestinian politics

AlMonitor

By Daoud Kuttab

For the 23rd time since his arrest in 2002, Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti was transferred to an isolated cell in the Israeli Hadarim prison. The Israeli press said that the punishment was due to a letter smuggled out of prison by the Palestinian leader and published in the largest Palestinian newspaper.

In the letter, published in Al Quds on Nov. 11, Barghouti remembered the late Yasser Arafat on the 10th anniversary of his death and called on Palestinians to honor him with a “comprehensive resistance and the gun” that would lead to independence. In the 632-word letter, Barghouti mentioned the term resistance three times and recalled other leaders such as Hamas’ Ahmed Yassin, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s Abu Ali Mustafa, Fatah leader Khalil Wazir Abu Jihad, Islamic Jihad’s Fathi Shiqaqi and Fatah’s Al Aqsa Brigade leader Raed Karmi.

Fadwa Barghouti, wife of the jailed leader, told Al-Monitor that her husband has never changed his position. “Ever since his arrest until now, he has held on to the right of comprehensive resistance that international law guarantees,” she said. Fadwa spoke to Al-Monitor before leaving for Chile and Argentina to join international events of solidarity for her husband.

When pressed about the use of the additional term of the gun, Fadwa Barghouti, who on her Facebook page had removed the word “gun,” suggested that his reference to armed resistance was a tactical statement and not a strategic one: “He is not expected to change his position while he is suffering in prison.” Fadwa Barghouti insisted that Marwan Barghouti’s policies are known to all, a reference to his general support for the peace process and the two-state solution. He has also stated on numerous occasions his opposition to attacks on civilians. Continue Reading »

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