A key player in search for peace Rabbi Bruce Warshal May 13, 2017 This past week President Trump, as part of his Middle East trip, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Earlier this month, after his White House meeting with Abbas, Trump speculated on the chances for bargaining a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He said, “It’s something that I think is frankly maybe not as difficult as people have thought.” As my Bubbie would say, from his lips to God’s ears. To be successful Trump will have to quickly identify the players for both the Israelis and the Palestinians. I am sure that he has never heard of Marwan Barghouti. He is the most popular Palestinian politician without whom it will be most difficult to unify Fatah and Hamas in the search for peace. For 15 years he has been serving a life sentence in an Israeli prison for terrorism. He is now 57-years-old. Although well known in Israel, he is little known to the average American. Barghouti’s position on militant resistance has always straddled both Abbas’ commitment to complete non-violence and Hamas’ reliance on traditional terrorism. He opposes attacks against civilians within Israel proper, but approves of resistance against Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank. In 2002 Barghouti was arrested by the Sharon government and charged with being the mastermind of the Second Intifada. He was assumed guilty from the start. At the very opening statement of the trial Barghouti declared himself “a fighter for peace for both peoples.” The judge retorted, “One who fights for peace doesn’t turn people into bombs and kill children.” This assumption of guilt was further expressed by the Israeli Attorney General, publicly declaring him a “first-rate architect of terrorism” during the course of the trial, before a verdict was announced. It had all the marks of a show trail, otherwise called a kangaroo court. The Inter-Parliamentary Union, a semi-governmental organization based in Geneva since 1889, declared that Barghouti’s trial violated international norms. As Barghouti noted in a recent New York Times opinion piece (published only in the International edition), his release has “the support of eight Nobel Peace Prize laureates, 120 governments and hundreds of leaders, parliamentarians, artists and academics around the world.” In Israel, at the time of the trial, ex-Prime Minister Ehud Barak challenged the wisdom of arresting him. Ex-Justice Minister Yossi Beilin called for a presidential pardon and in 2007 Shimon Peres declared that he would sign a presidential pardon for Barghouti if elected to the presidency; however, he never followed through after assuming the post. Guilt or innocence is not a political factor. Assuming his guilt, it would not preclude his importance as a leader of a Palestinian state. Both Menachem Begin of the Irgun and Yitzhak Shamir of the Stern Gang were terrorists (or freedom fighters; you choose your terminology) and later ascended to the head of state. Nelson Mandela had “blood on his hands,” but was released from prison to heal the wounds of South Africa. What’s at stake here? Chances of a peace agreement are slim, but not impossible if there were a strong 57-year-old Palestinian who could bridge the differences between Hamas and Fatah and create a stable government. Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israel has no one to talk to. Releasing Barghouti would prove that his coalition government was truly interested in peace, rather than expanding settlements with the objective of gobbling up the entire West Bank. This is a litmus test for Israeli intentions. President Trump will have to learn of the importance of Marwan Barghouti if he expects to successfully conclude the biggest negotiation of his life. The views and statements expressed in this story we share with our list do not necessarily reflect the views of the (Middle East Tims Int'l). |
