Barghouti solitary 'unrelated to content of letter'

IPS says the Fatah arch-terrorist is being punished for the sending of an unauthorized letter, not its content.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Jailed Fatah member Marwan Barghouti 311 (photo credit: Oleg Popov / Reuters)
Jailed Fatah member Marwan Barghouti 311
(photo credit: Oleg Popov / Reuters)
Prisons Service sent Fatah arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti into solitary confinement this week for sending an unauthorized letter from prison, and not because of the content of the letter, the authority’s spokeswoman told The Jerusalem Post Monday.
“It has nothing to do with the content, which is not investigated by us. The letter was sent without Prisons Service authorization,” Sivan Weitzman said.
According to Prisons Service regulations, the smuggling of a letter out of prison results in a week’s solitary confinement, and the revoking of cafeteria and visitation rights the duration of the week. Barghouti received all of those penalties.
Barghouti is serving five life terms in the Hadarim prison in the Sharon district of central Israel, for his role in a series of deadly terror attacks against Israelis.
In the letter, he called on Palestinians to launch a new popular intifada against Israel, saying that “experience has proven that the Palestinians do not have a peace partner in Israel.” He pointed out that the “intifada and resistance” had forced Israel to unconditionally destroy settlements and withdraw from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
Barghouti’s message was included in a letter he sent to supporters on the 10th anniversary of his incarceration during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.
Barghouti’s letter is seen by some Palestinians as a direct challenge to the PA leadership in Ramallah.
Criticizing security coordination between the PA and Israel, Barghouti said that the “role of the Palestinian security forces was to protect the security of the citizen and homeland and not the occupation and settlements.” The PA should “stop marketing illusions that the occupation could be ended through negotiations,” he stressed.
In addition to his call to sever all ties with Israel – first and foremost, security and economic coordination – Barghouti also called on PA leadership to combat corruption, which he termed “another face for occupation.”
The anti-corruption drive should affect icons of corruption who still have not been held accountable, he said.
“Launching a large-scale popular resistance at this stage will serve the cause of our people,” Barghouti said in his letter, which was read aloud to his supporters during a rally in Ramallah.
He also urged Palestinians to launch a “comprehensive boycott of Israeli products and goods.”
The Palestinians, Barghouti continued, have an “absolute right to use all methods and means to resist occupation” – demanding that the PA leadership work with the international community to impose economic, diplomatic and political sanctions against Israel.
The letter called on Arab and Islamic countries to assist the Palestinians in boycotting and isolating Israel and resisting all forms of normalization with Israelis.
Barghouti urged the PA to renew its efforts at the UN to achieve recognition of a Palestinian state.
In his letter, Barghouti praised members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah who were responsible for carrying out terror attacks against Israel.
He said he was very proud of the commanders of Fatah’s armed wing, al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, who were killed or arrested by Israel during the second intifada.
Barghouti also praised Fatah’s two female suicide bombers, Wafa Idris and Ayat al-Akhras, who carried out attacks in Jerusalem.


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