Marwan Barghouti
Marwan BarghoutiReuters

Fatah leader and arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is in an Israeli jail serving five life sentences for his role in planning suicide terror attacks in Israel, on Monday criticized the resolution submitted to the United Nations Security Council by the Palestinian Authority (PA).

In a letter received from his jail cell and quoted by the Ma’an news agency, Barghouti said the UN resolution, which calls on Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria by 2017, is an "unjustified fallback which will have a very negative impact on the Palestinian position."

Bargouti said he has always urged the leadership to take the question of Palestine to the UN to obtain a security council resolution, but any proposal must be in-line with “inalienable national principles”, according to Ma’an.

He urged the PA leadership to comprehensively revise the wording of the draft resolution to focus on the issues of “settlement expansion, Jerusalem, prisoners, and the blockade on Gaza.”

Any talk of land swaps will weaken the Palestinian “right to self-determination and a sovereign state”, he claimed, noting that such a measure would be used to legalize “settlement building.”

The PA must also confirm in the resolution that “settlements” are illegal, war crimes, and must be removed, according to Barghouti.

He further called on the PA leadership to demand that eastern Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Palestine and insist on the right of return of “Palestinian refugees” to their former homes in Israel.

"Though the issue of prisoners isn't part of the final status core issues, it should be confirmed in any resolution that freeing all prisoners is an absolute right and a precondition for peace," he said.

Barghouti is widely believed to have masterminded the second intifada, which exploded across Israel from 2000 to 2005. He is widely perceived as a popular choice to replace PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, whose term in office expired several years ago.

From his jail cell, he has threatened Israel in the past with a third intifada, albeit an unarmed one, and has declared he “would not give up and I claim that the right of return is a sacred right of the Palestinians.”

Barghouti toughened his tone recently, calling for “armed resistance” in a letter marking the 10th anniversary of the death of former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. He was later sent to solitary confinement over the letter.