Why Israel Shouldn't Ignore Marwan Barghouti

To many in the global community, Marwan Barghouti is known as the “Palestinian Nelson Mandela.” However, to Netanyahu and the rest of the Israeli government, he is the “leader of a terrorist organization that encouraged and led terror attacks that killed and wounded dozens of innocent Israelis” during the second-intifada (Middle East Monitor, 2016). Even though Barghouti has been sentenced behind Israeli bars for five-life sentences for allegedly murdering 4 civilians (including one Greek Monk), he is still a key player in Israeli-Palestinian politics. Not only is Barghouti vastly popular amongst Palestinians (with polls stating that “Barghouti would receive the largest percentage” of voters in the West Bank if he were to run against Abbas, Palestinian Authority leader, and Haniyeh, Hamas leader, in the next elections), but he is also the only political figure who can effectively unite all the Palestinian factions. So what would happen if the Israeli authorities decided to release Barghouti tomorrow and he was to issue a new platform for the Palestinian strategy for independence? In this case, his platform would demand the termination of the Palestinian security partnership with Israel (created during Oslo) and establish a national-unity government which would unite all 13 Palestinian parties under the leadership of Fatah, as agreed to in the “Prisoner’s Document” created in 2006.

First and foremost, as stated in many of his many interviews and articles, Barghouti has made it very clear that the Palestinian Authority (PA) should immediately abandon its security coordination with Israel (which was established in Annex 1 of the Oslo II Accords). According to Barghouti, this clause in Oslo, which calls for the creation for a Palestinian police force that would “cooperate [with the IDF] in the exchange of information and coordinate policies and activities” in order to combat terrorism, maintain order, and secure Israeli borders, only benefits the Israelis (Oslo II, Annex 1, Article 2.2). In an interview by the Middle East Report in 1994, Barghouti claims that people who grew up during the occupation “would [have] never consent[ed] to be "partners" in the oppression of [their] own people” (Usher, Barghouti 3). In a letter Barghouti wrote in prison twenty-years after this interview, he claims that this “security coordination and cooperation [with Israel only] reinforces the occupation and is tremendously detrimental to the Palestinian people's national interest” (MEMRI, 2014). Instead, Palestinian security forces should “protect the demonstrations of support for our [Palestinian] people's uprising in Jerusalem” and “hold [every person who harmed any Fatah movement leaders in the Gaza War of 2014] to account” (MEMRI, 2014).

Secondly, his platform would attempt to unite all the factions of Palestinian resistance movement under the auspice of Fatah. For instance, when Barghouti was asked how he would amend the political rift between Fatah and Hamas in a CNN interview, Barghouti cited the Prisoner’s Document; which was a document that he and members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad in Palestine (PIJ), the Popular Liberation Front in Palestine (PLFP), and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) created and signed in Israeli prison in 2006. According to this document, which is still frequently used by Abbas in efforts to bridge gaps with Hamas, all parties had to agreed to “establish their independent state with al- Quds al-Shareef [Jerusalem] as its capital on all territories occupied in 1967” with the PA will be “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people” (Prisoner’s Document 1-2, 2006). This document also addresses the common issue of ending occupation and of Palestinian right to return (by reaffirming UN Resolution 194). However despite much of his optimism, Barghouti’s plan unite all Palestinian parties is slightly questionable since the document he refers to automatically asserts the PA as the leader of Palestine and contradicts the Hamas Charter, which strictly vows to return to 1948 borders. Nonetheless, Barghouti insists that this document will be the uniting factor between all Palestinian parties.

Works Cited

Barghouti, Marwan, Bassam Saadi, Abdel Khaleq Natsh, Abdel Raheem Malluh, and Mustafa Badarneh. "The Palestinian Prisoners’ Document." The Palestinian Prisoners’ Document. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://www.david-morrison.org.uk/palestine/prisoners-document.htm>.

Barghouti, Marwan. "Marwan Barghouti In New Statement Issued From Israeli Prison: The Palestinians Must 'Adhere To The Option Of Comprehensive Resistance And The Gun'." MEMRI. The Middle East Media Research Institute, 27 Feb. 2017. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <https://www.memri.org/reports/marwan-barghouti-new-statement-issued-israeli-prison-palestinians-must-adhere-option#_ednref2 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161206-netanyahu-slams-fatah-for-electing-marwan-barghouti/>.

"Netanyahu Slams Fatah for Electing Marwan Barghouti." Middle East Monitor. N.p., 06 Dec. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161206-netanyahu-slams-fatah-for-electing-marwan-barghouti/>.

Oslo, I. I. "Accords.(1995)." Annex 1 of Oslo II (1995). http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Peace/Guide/Pages/THE%20ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN%20INTERIM%20AGRE...

"Palestinian Leader Speaks from Prison." CNN. Cable News Network, 10 Dec. 2009. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/10/palestinian.qa/index.html>.

Usher, Graham, et al. “Arafat and the Opposition.” Middle East Report, no. 191, 1994, pp. 22–25., www.jstor.org/stable/3012712.