Marwan Barghouthi member of the Central Committee of the Fatah Movement warned against the resumption of negotiations with Israel based on the previously announced conditions specifying six conditions for the resumption of negotiations.
The Fatah leader who is serving five life sentences in Israeli jails also called for civil disobedience against the Israeli occupation authorities and championed holding a Palestinian national conference to launch a national comprehensive dialogue and establish a national unity government.
Barghouthi who has been leading the hunger strike in Israeli jails for 28 days said in a statement on Sunday: “I warn against the resumption of negotiations based on the previously announced conditions that proved their failure” underlining six conditions for the resumption of negotiations.
Conditions for the resumption of negotiations
Barghouthi stressed that “There will be no point behind having negotiations except if there is an Israeli official commitment to end the occupation according to a fixed timetable a comprehensive stop of settlements’ construction and withdrawal to the 1967 borders and recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determinations including recognizing the right of refugees to return in accordance with UN Resolution 194 and the release of prisoners and detainees before any resumption of negotiations and ending the crime of medical negligence against prisoners which has been going on for quarter of a century.”
He called for “the launch of the largest popular movement and civil disobedience movement as well as giving consideration to the national liberation discourse again as Palestinians mark the 50th anniversary of the occupation (the 1967 borders) and as the 70th anniversary of the Nakba is approaching.” He stressed “the battle (hunger strike) of freedom and dignity is an integral part of the struggle against the occupation to overthrow the unfair apartheid regime.”
Call for reconciliation
He appealed to the Palestinian factions especially Fatah and Hamas to achieve national reconciliation and to renew dialogue in order to hold a national conference of comprehensive dialogue in order to reach a covenant and partnership document among factions to preserve Palestinian representation and to prevent the collapse of the Palestinian political system which is living through its weakest moments.
He also called for the formation of a national unity government immediately with the participation of all factions the restoration of Palestinian democratic life and the state of national unity to face the colonial occupation of Palestine as demanded by prisoners who proposed the Prisoners’ Document and launched the mass ‘freedom and dignity’ hunger strike to further unify the positions of Palestinians.
He called for organizing solidarity activities with the prisoners in coincidence with marking the anniversary of the Nakba to build up on this situation and turn it into “a civil and national disobedience that coincides with the half-century anniversary of the Israeli colonization of the Arab territories occupied in 1967.”
Battle of freedom and dignity
Barghouthi paid tribute to the striking prisoners pledging to continue the battle of freedom and dignity for Palestine until achieving its objectives.
He added “Nothing breaks the will of prisoners which stems from the will of our great people and in their name I say to our Palestinian people: We bet on you. You sacrifice and we win and we have no doubt that you always keep your words and fulfil promises.”
He condemned the Israeli brutal persecution of hunger striking prisoners who went on hunger strike to achieve their just human demands. He pointed out that hundreds of them were harassed and humiliated. Some were transferred in vehicles for 18 hours others placed in solitary confinement which resulted in exhausting their bodies while they were deprived of meeting their lawyers.
He stressed that all attempts to blackmail prisoners along with the cruel and harsh measures imposed against them and the brutal conditions they are living in would only increase their determination and belief in achieving victory.
Lawyer visit
Barghouthi’s statement came after a visit made by lawyer Khader Shkirat at the Jalameh detention center after the Israeli prison authorities prevented the lawyers from doing so for 28 days.
Shkirat quoted Barghouthi as saying that the Israeli prison authorities break into his cell four times a day and subject him to strip searches with his hands and feet handcuffed.
Barghouthi said that he was held in a dungeon beneath the isolation ward for four days. He was moved out after he stopped taking water. He said he was subjected to annoying sounds for hours coming from equipment placed there on a daily basis forcing him to stuff his ears with napkins.
Shkirat added that Barghouthi’s cell lacks all basic requirements. It is full of insects and bugs and only one blanket is available adding that it does not contain any kind of books including the Holy Quran.
He also said that Barghouthi had not been able to change his clothes since the start of his strike. He was transferred from the cell to the prison clinic with his hands and feet tied and has lost 12 kilograms of his weight the lawyer underlined.
