Barghouti seeks help from Hadash MK

Jailed Tanzim leader urges Barakei to 'get more involved' in prisoner exchange.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
barghouti prison 298.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
barghouti prison 298.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Establishing a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, including east Jerusalem; right of return for Palestinian refugees; and releasing a "significant number" prisoners are the Palestinians' minimum demands, former Fatah Secretary-General Marwan Barghouti told MK Muhammad Barakei (Hadash) on Saturday. Barghouti, who is currently serving five life sentences for the murder of Israeli citizens at the Rimonim Prison in Israel, may have been conveying a message from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas when he spoke to Barakei. "The Palestinian people tried resistance without negotiation, and negotiation without resistance. The truth is that there is no other way but resistance for the 1967 occupier," Barghouti was quoted as saying during the meeting. Barakei, who released all of the details of the meeting, said that the most important issue discussed was the release of security prisoners. "Keeping 11,000 prisoners in Israeli jails is diplomatic stupidity," said Barakei, who added that true peace would only be achieved once a significant number of prisoners were released. Barghouti also told Barakei that Palestinian prisoners would stage a hunger strike if the violence between Fatah and Hamas loyalists continued. Barghouti also urged the Hadash MK to "get more involved" in the prisoner exchange issue, and that the Palestinians were interested in a meeting between Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The Palestinians were interested in a meeting "despite the fact that Israel didn't uphold any of the decisions" that Olmert had made, Barghouti said.