Jailed Fatah leader says no agreement can be reached with "government of settlement, occupation, terror, siege and aggression."
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHBarghouti 311 AP(photo credit: Associated Press)
Those who believe that peace can be achieved with Israel are living in an illusion, jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti was quoted as saying on Thursday.“There is no real partner for peace in Israel now,” Barghouti said in statements published by an Algerian newspaper. “The Israeli government is a government of settlement, occupation, terror, siege and aggression. Peace with Israel is impossible at this phase.”RELATED:PA FM condemns Israel's 'Judaization' of JerusalemBarghouti and Dahlan slam Abbas for capitulatingBarghouti, who is serving five life terms in prison for his role in terrorist attacks on Israelis during the second intifada, said that the peace process was dead and attempts to revive it were ineffective.He said Israel had not made a strategic decision to make peace, which, for the Palestinians, meant ending occupation and withdrawing to the June 4, 1967, lines.“The key to peace in the region lies in ending occupation first, because the first day for peace is the last day of the occupation,” Barghouti said.The Fatah leader said the best way out of the impasse was for the Palestinians to end their divisions and then go to the UN Security Council “so as to end the American monopoly over the Israeli-Arab conflict.” He also urged Arab countries to intensify pressure on the US and Israel to comply with UN resolutions regarding the conflict.In addition, Barghouti voiced support for escalating “popular resistance” against Israel.He described the Hamas- Fatah dispute as a “disaster” for the Palestinians because it was being used as an excuse by their enemies.“The dispute weakens the Palestinians and defames the Palestinian cause,” he complained.
“It’s regrettable and disgraceful for this situation to continue.”Barghouti said the Oslo Accords were over because they had been “destroyed by Israeli tanks, settlements, the Judaization of Jerusalem and the assassination of Yasser Arafat.”He also lashed out at the Arab countries for failing to provide the Palestinians with enough financial aid.“It’s shameful that one American Jew named [Irving] Moskowitz is giving settlers in Jerusalem more than what all the Arabs are giving to the city,” he said. “The Arab regimes have not only abandoned the option of liberating Palestine through military means, but they have also given up the option of backing the Palestinians politically, financially and economically.”
