In an interview from his prison cell, convicted Fatah terrorist Marwan
Barghouti told Channel 10 that if he was Palestinian Authority
president, he wouldn't be able to promise that there would not be a
third intifada, as PA President Mahmoud Abbas has done.
Channel 10 aired the interview - jointly conducted with Haaretz
- on Wednesday night, marking the first Israeli interview of its kind
after the ten years of prison time that the revered Palestinian figure
has served.
He warned that if the occupation continued, there will be a third intifada, but it will be a popular non-violent uprising.
The
interview was conducted several days into Operation Pillar of Defense,
however, Israeli security did not allow the interview to be aired in full.
Barghouti
predicted that the conflict would strengthen Hamas and said that the
rockets helped the Gaza group, and "were a good thing." However, he
added that he could not say that it was appropriate to use them in every
situation, as Hamas did. Nevertheless, he asserted that the Israelis
"only understand force."
He
described Abbas as the most comfortable partner Israel could have, and
said he had no choice but to go the United Nations General Assembly with
the Palestinian statehood bid, otherwise "he would go home."
"You read the polls and understand that I am Abbas's replacement," he said.
Barghouti
recalled that Abbas had said that he would give up any claim to Safed,
where he had lived as a child. Abbas was asked during a channel 2
interview in March if he would like to return to his birth town of
Safed. He responded: "Palestine now for me is the '67 borders, with East
Jerusalem as its capital...I believe the West Bank and Gaza is
Palestine and the other parts are Israel."
Barghouti stressed
that he himself would not give up the claim to the right of return,
which he called a sacred right of the Palestinians.
He also
stated that Israel has proven it does not want peace. "When I'm
president, and Israel agrees to a two-state solution based on the 1967
border with the capital of Palestine as east Jerusalem, I will ensure
that Hamas does not carry out terror attacks," he said.
"They have already agreed to this and we formulated an agreement here in prison," he added