Arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison for his role in planning suicide terror attacks, has welcomed the Hamas-Fatah unity pact and stressed that there can never be a peace agreement with Israel unless the “Palestinian refugees” are allowed to return to their homes.
Barghouti’s remarks were made in a statement he released Thursday on the occasion of “Nakba Day”, on which Arabs mark what they see as the “catastrophe” of Israel’s establishment.
In his statement, Barghouti praised the work of the “martyrs”, stressing that the so-called “right of return” is a sacred right that cannot be negotiated. He added that any solution to the “Palestinian problem” which does not include the right of return is an illegitimate solution.
He expressed support for a “comprehensive national strategy” for dealing with the major challenges is facing the Palestinian people, including “the occupation, the settlements, and the Judaization of Jerusalem and the holy places of Islam and Christianity.”
Barghouti also expressed support for the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) unilateral moves in the United Nations and encouraged PA leadership to join more international organizations. He also called for sanctions against Israel and for its political and economic isolation, similar to the steps that were taken against South Africa during the apartheid era.
Barghouti 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.”
He recently accused the PA of neglecting the issue of terrorist releases and called for all Palestinian Arab terrorist groups to put his release on the top of the agenda.