Following the victory of Marwan Barghouti, the West Bank Tanzim leader jailed in Israel, in the Fatah’s Ramallah region primaries, his wife Fadwa tells Ynet that he has conveyed a message to Israel that the Palestinian people support him and acknowledge his leadership.
"If you want to negotiate with the Palestinians, here is your address," she said.
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| Barghouti wins Fatah primaries / Ali Waked |
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West Bank Tanzim leader, jailed in Israel after being captured by IDF in 2002, wins Ramallah region primaries with 96 percent of vote, may win top spot on Fatah list ahead of general elections; Foreign Minister Shalom says Barghouti will never be released |
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The Palestinians view Barghouti's victory as an achievement for the younger generation over the older generation and as a victory for Barghouti's commitment to issuing a war on corruption and an uncompromising battle against the occupation.
In response to the results, Meretz-Yahad Chairman Yossi Beilin called Saturday for Barghouti to be released from prison.
According to Beilin, the victory of Fatah's younger generation is important for the Palestinian Authority's democratization process.
"Barghouti heads one of the Palestinian camps that do want peace, and so this is the moment to curb his prison term and allow him to lead the Palestinian nation, in preparation for an historical peace agreement with Israel," he said.
Commenting on Beilin's remarks, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said that Israel would never release Barghouti from prison.
"We must not forget that he is a cold-blooded murderer who was sentenced by the court to five life sentences," he said.
Fadwa Barghouti, what is the meaning of your husband's victory?
"This victory has two great meanings. The first is on the internal level of Fatah, and that is the fact that internal elections were finally held in the movement as Marwan had been demanding for years.
"These elections and the internal democracy of the movement were his biggest project, and now it is taking place and happening. The second significant aspect is on the political level.
"The great and decisive support of the people and the fact that Marwan won 33,941 votes out of 35,000, means that the Fatah members, who represent a very large portion of the Palestinian people, support Marwan and the worldview he has been representing in the past few years, that we must struggle for the real peace, and simultaneously oppose the occupation and fight for peace. These perceptions do not contradict, but rather complement each other."
Do you now expect his release? Because Israelis are not really moved by his victory and there is no official intention to release him.
"The results are a sort of referendum, which says that the Palestinian people have shown their tremendous loyalty to Marwan. This is a message to the Israelis – you sentenced him to life sentences while taking away his immunity, and now we, his people, have returned his immunity and elected him as our leader.
"The meaning of the results is a message to the Israelis that if you want to negotiate with the Palestinian people, Marwan Barghouti and the prisoners are the address."
As a lawyer, does the Palestinian law allow a person who is jailed in Israel to be elected to parliament?
"Yes, a prisoner has all the rights apart from the right to vote, and here we are sorry for the weakness manifested by the leadership of the Palestinian Authority on Marwan's case, and the fact that they did not object to him being put on trial and did not do enough in order to release him.
"But now the Palestinian people, with 96 percent support, are reminding the leadership what should be done. This support is in fact an unprecedented support which was not given to any Palestinian leader before him."
How did you personally react to the results?
"I was very proud of the Palestinian people and Fatah members, of the movement's youth, of all those who said that it is important to convey a message to the Palestinians and to the entire world, and especially to Israel.
"I am proud of our movement, which decided to strengthen democracy and continue with the elections on all levels, because democracy is the gate to real reform and to independence."
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