Friday, June 27, 2003

Marwan Barghouti is being credited for securing a truce among Palestinian militants. According to the agreement that has yet to be announced, there would be no attacks on Israelis for three months.

Who is Barghouti? If you ask the Israelis he's a terrorist who deserves imprisonment.

As leader of the Fatah Party's Tanzim militia, Barghouti, 42, has become a symbol -- and coordinating force -- of the Palestinian intifada against Israel, which has claimed the lives of at least 469 Israeli soldiers and civilians since it began in September 2000.


The Palestinians consider him a political prisoner who should be freed.

“I am not a terrorist, but neither am I a pacifist. I am simply a regular guy from the Palestinian street advocating only what every other oppressed person has advocated -- the right to help myself in the absence of help from anywhere else.”
Read the complete Article.

Securing this deal if in fact it's occurred would be a coup. And it would lend weight to Barghouti's call to hold new elections as he considers Arafat's leadership a failure.