Marwan Barghouti is a man I admire. I know that statement will outrage some people who see him as a murderer. And he doesn’t espouse a philosophy of non-violence, which I do. But he is no different in what he does and believes than Ben Gurion or Menahem Begin, Nelson Mandela or Lamumba, other men I admire. The latter three were also imprisoned as “terrorists” by occupying regimes. And both Mandela and Lamumba led their people to freedom from prison.
I tried to find an intelligent analysis of Barghouti’s decision to run for the President of the PA but couldn’t. Most Westerners seem to see the corrupt Abu Mazen as a preferable choice — ironic considering that, unlike Arafat who was villified as a “corrupt” leader, Abu Mazen personally profited from his position in the PA. So I feel it best to let Barghouti speak for himself:
“You must understand, once and for all, that you must end the occupation. You must announce that the occupation is over and that Israel is leaving the territories. Present a timetable of a month, six months, a year. The important thing is that you present a timetable for withdrawal from all of the territories and the dismantling of the settlements, and announce that you recognize an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem. Believe me, such an announcement on the part of Israel will change the situation from top to bottom. Everything will work out. Everything. I have no doubt of that.”
And here is an article Barghouti early on in the Intifada.