Detainee Barghouthi: Israel should admit Palestinians' right to self-determination

Sunday April 06, 2008 13:30 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

Veteran Palestinian detainee and a Fatah MP, Marwan Barghouti, believed that Israel should admit the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, if it really wants to reach a solution to the conflict.

Marwan Barghouthi

Barghouthi, who serves a life-imprisonment term at an Israeli prison , was speaking in an interview inside the jail, with the Italian newspaper of Lastamia.

He also maintained that Israel has yet failed to recognize the Palestinian borders of 1967, including the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

The charismatic Fatah leader, who emerged as a leader during the Palestinian uprising 'Intifada', before he was detained by Israel in 2004, said that 'the Palestinian masses will give Fatah a confidence in any upcoming elections, provided that Fatah carries out a genuine reformation".

He also held the Fatah's leadership responsibility for the failure in last parliamentary elections of 2006, which brought the rival Islamist Hamas to power.

" the Palestinian people did not withhold votes from Fatah, however the multiple Fatah candidates resulted in such loss", Barghouthi commented.

From his cell at the Israeli prison of Hadarim, the veteran Palestinian leader believed that the Hamas party has failed to get use of its electoral victory and thus it lost the unity government of 2007.

Israel, which exiled Barghouthi in late 1980's, has been accusing this Palestinian leader of orchestrating the second uprising (Intifada) from the West Bank city of Ramallah, where Barghouthi used to live before he was kidnapped by an Israeli army force.

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