Jailed Fatah leader praises Hamas war against Israel

Incarcerated Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti lauded the war Hamas waged against Israel this summer as a victory and called for an armed Palestinian uprising against Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank.

In a written correspondence with Reuters published Thursday, Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences for murder — for involvement in terrorist attacks against Israelis during the Second Intifada — also called for a broad boycott of Israel.

“The Palestinians must make the price of the occupation dear on Israel,” Barghouti wrote. “Freedom in Palestine will not be realized until the launching of a broader resistance associated with a broader political, economic and security boycott for the occupation.”

Barghouti — who wields considerable influence in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, despite being behind bars for the past decade — advocates an armed struggle against Israel to achieve Palestinian independence, instead of the diplomatic approach Abbas has adopted. He was among the Fatah leadership that orchestrated the first and second intifadas against Israel in the late 1980s and early 2000s.

Over the years, some dovish Israeli politicians have called for Barghouti’s early release, arguing that with his popularity and bona fides, he was the only Palestinian possessed of the political capital to sign a peace deal with Israel.

Speaking about the seven-week conflict between Israel and Gaza-based terrorist groups over the summer, Barghouti wrote that “we consider that the battle represents a victory for the resistance.” He didn’t, however, mention Hamas by name.

“(It) proved that Israel cannot and does not have the ability to resolve the conflict by military force, and that the only way to end the conflict is to end the occupation in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967,” he said. “Negotiations with Israel failed over 20 years in achieving freedom, return and independence.”

Barghouti also praised the international movement to boycott Israel, but called for greater steps to be taken to isolate Israel.

“The promotion of a campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the occupation (was),” Barghouti added, “a prelude to isolating it internationally and putting international sanctions on it.

“I do not see that Israel is ready for real peace, but wants to use fruitless negotiations to continue its occupation and settlement and to ease its international isolation.”

Nine months of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority broke down in April after Fatah and Hamas reached an agreement to form a national reconciliation government. Israel said it would not negotiate with a PA government that includes a terrorist organization that rejects Israel’s right to exist.