 "Is Marwan Barghouti, Palestinian ‘Nelson Mandela’, being tortured in Israeli prison?")
Was Marwan Barghouti beaten unconscious by Israeli prison guards?
That’s what the family of the high-profile Palestinian prisoner has alleged. The 66-year-old former leader of the Fatah party, which runs the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and is an ideological rival of Hamas, has been in jail for decades.
https://youtu.be/mSoM_1NzMmY
While Israel regards him as a terrorist, many others see him as the Palestinian ‘Nelson Mandela’ – a man who could lead a unified Palestinian movement and is the potential successor to PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Though the Palestinians have attempted to have Barghouti released several times over the years, Israel has consistently refused.
Barghouti’s son earlier claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want his father released because he “doesn’t want a partner for peace.”
But who is Barghouti? Is he being mistreated in prison?
Let’s take a closer look.
Early years
Marwan Hasib Ibrahim Barghouti was born on June 6, 1959, in Kobar – near Ramallah on the West Bank. At the time he grew up, the area was under the control of Jordan. Barghouti’s father was a builder and his family of nine lived in a cramped two-bedroom home.
Barghouti was eight years old when the Six-Day War broke out in 1967. This is when Israel seized control of the West Bank. Barghouti then spent the next years of his childhood living under Israel’s control. Barghouti witnessed his neighbours being mistreated for flying the Palestinian flag. He also noted how military bases and Jewish settlements came up in the area. Israeli soldiers killed the family dog for barking.
Barghouti at this time became involved with the Communist Party, who believed in non-violence and a two-state solution. He spent his time after school marching in protests held at Ramallah. However, the lack of achievements by the Communist Party left Barghouti frustrated. It was at this time that he joined the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), which was run by Fatah. He joined the group, which was frequently involved in launching violent attacks on Israel, when he was still a teenager.
In 1978, Barghouti was arrested by the authorities and reportedly tortured while in custody. He spent the next four and a half years in prison, where he read voraciously. After he was released, he married his neighbour’s daughter Fadwa and enrolled in Bir Zeit University – the top institution for Palestinians. It was here that he studied history and political science.
Political rise
Barghouti was frequently arrested by Israel over the next few years. In 1987, Israel forcibly sent Barghouti to Amman, Jordan. It was the same year the Intifada erupted, in which Barghouti would play a key part by raising money from sympathetic groups. He and his wife Fadwa also had four children during these years. He joined the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as its liaison officer in Amman and Tunis.
Barghouti returned to the West Bank in 1994 after the Oslo Accords, which ended the Intifada following a deal between PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israel’s then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Barghouti spent the next few years slowly ascending the ranks of Fatah. He became Fatah’s Secretary General in the occupied West Bank and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the parliament of the newly-created Palestinian Authority (PA), in 1996.
By the start of 2000, Barghouti was widely popular with the Palestinian public and viewed as a protégé of Arafat. He was also one of the few who dared to call out corruption and human rights abuses by Arafat’s security forces.
Second Intifada and imprisonment
Barghouti was seen by Israel as one of the main leaders of the Second Intifada, which erupted in 2000. He is believed to have taken over Tanzim and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the armed wings of Fatah, at this time.
Authorities arrested Barghouti in 2002 – at the height of the movement against Israel. Barghouti, who refused to put on a defence in his trial, was convicted of planning attacks that left five Israeli citizens dead. He was sentenced to five life sentences plus 40 years in prison. Barghouti also rejected the authority of the Israeli court to try him, given that he was a member of the Palestinian Authority’s Parliament.
“I reserve the right to protect myself, to resist the Israeli occupation of my country and to fight for my freedom.… I am not a terrorist, but neither am I a pacifist,” he wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post.
Though Barghouti has not been interviewed in years, he was known to have advocated for a two-state solution. He has claimed that the US cannot be an honest broker in bringing peace because it is too close to Israel. He has said Israel must completely withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza and demolish its settlements, as well as recognise the right of the Palestinian state to exist.
Is he being mistreated in prison?
Barghouti has not been seen publicly in years. Only a few photos and videos of him have surfaced over the years. The last glimpse the public got was in August, when a video of far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting Barghouti emerged online.
“You will not win. He who messes with the people of Israel, he who will murder our children, he who will murder our women, we will wipe him out," Ben-Gvir told Barghouti, who appeared old and frail. “You need to know this, throughout history.” The Palestinian Authority condemned the video as “the epitome of psychological, moral and physical terrorism.”
Since the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, Barghouti has been kept in solitary confinement. Barghouti’s family has said that he was beaten unconscious by several Israeli prison guards on September 14. They said this occurred while Barghouti was being transferred between Ganot and Megiddo prisons.
The family said that Palestinian prisoners who have been released claimed he was beaten to the point of falling unconscious and that he had fractured four ribs. They said he could barely walk when he arrived at Megiddo. They said this is the fourth such beating Barghouti has endured at the hands of prison guards over the past four years.
Israel has rubbished such claims.
“The murderer Barghouti knows that today, terrorists like him are dealt with firmly, which is why he invents fake news in an attempt to rouse his loathsome terrorist comrades who left him behind in the deal,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement.
He added that he was proud that the conditions under which Barghouti was being held have “drastically changed”.
Hamas has yet again tried to secure Barghouti’s release in a hostage-for-prisoner exchange, but has been unable to do so. It remains to be seen whether Israel relents or whether Barghouti, who many see as a ray of light, will die in an Israeli prison.
With inputs from agencies
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