Jailed leader Barghouti could lead ‘democratic renewal’ in Palestine, son says

LONDON — After 24 years, including long stretches of solitary confinement, in Israeli jail, Marwan Barghouti remains a rallying figure for his people and could lead a “democratic renewal” in Palestin, his son Arab Barghouti has told the AFP news agency.Called the “Nelson Mandela of Palestine” by his supporters, Barghouti, 66, is Israel’s most high-profile prisoner and has become a symbol of the Palestinian cause.The Palestinian presidency, the Fatah movement, and Barghouti’s family marked the 24th anniversary of his arrest late last week. President Mahmoud Abbas pledged to continue efforts to secure his release.Fatah said Barghouti, known as Abu al-Qassam, had become a living symbol for Palestinians through his sacrifices, struggle, courage, and patience.The anniversary came as a lawyer who visited him in jail recently said Barghouti faced a series of violent assaults in Israeli jails in recent weeks, raising new concerns that his life may be at risk.Barghouti, who has been serving a life sentence imposed by Israel since 2002, was subjected to three assaults over March and April, indicating a pattern of “escalating violations”, lawyer Ben Marmarelli said in a statement after the visit.Barghouti was left to bleed after being severely beaten in Ganot Prison in central Israel on April 8, with requests for medical attention denied, said Marmarelli, following a visit to his client on Sunday.On March 25, he was assaulted while being transferred from Megiddo Prison in the north to Ganot. The day before, guards had “stormed his cell with a dog, forced him to lie on the floor, and then the dog repeatedly attacked him”, said Marmarelli.Images of Barghouti have been painted across many walls in the occupied West Bank and Gaza before most of the Strip was destroyed by Israeli air strikes.One of the leaders of the second intifada uprising in the early 2000s, Barghouti is often cited as a possible successor to the 90-year-old Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Barghouti’s son, Arab Barghouti, was only 11 when his father was jailed in 2002. An Israeli court sentenced him in June 2004 to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of involvement in four attacks that killed five people in Israel and the occupied West Bank.Arab, 35, who lives in the West Bank city of Ramallah, has not seen his father for four years and dedicates his life to campaigning for his release.He has not managed to have direct contact with him since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.Instead he receives updates via his father’s lawyer, who last visited him on April 12 and reported that Marwan Barghouti had been violently assaulted three times in recent weeks.“We learned about … his mistreatment and the abuse and torture,” Arab Barghouti told AFP in an interview in London during a trip to campaign for his father’s release.He said his father has “lost so much weight. Maybe … 10 kilograms (22 pounds).”Israeli prison authorities told AFP in a statement described the allegations as “false, recycled, and entirely without foundation.”“The Israel Prison Service has no record of events as described.”Images from August already showed Barghouti’s father looking frail and physically weak. But the lawyer described him “as always strong, very sharp mentally, focused,” his son said.“He knows exactly what’s happening and what we need as Palestinians to move forward,” Arab Barghouti said.Years of imprisonment have not diminished his father’s popularity — quite the opposite, according to his son.“We’re in desperate need for unified leadership. And I think he represents that. He represents a future democratic renewal in Palestine, unity.”A longtime member of Abbas’ Fatah party, Marwan Barghouti is seen as one of the rare figures who could be accepted as leader by all the Palestinian political factions, including Hamas.But there are no signs he will be released any time soon.Arab Barghouti insists that, despite the devastating Gaza war and the spreading Jewish settlements in the West Bank, his father has never given up hope for his people.“He said to me that hopelessness is a privilege that we don’t have as Palestinians … delete hopelessness from your dictionary.”Barghouti also still believes in a long-touted two-state solution, which would see a future State of Palestine existing alongside Israel.“He understands that the current Israeli government is basically killing the two-state solution deliberately. And the whole world is watching it,” Arab Barghouti said.“I think his biggest objective is Palestinian freedom, living with dignity, more than anything. And the ‘how’ becomes the question.”Arab Barghouti is critical of the current Palestinian leadership, and the Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah.They are “unfortunately not able to change what the Palestinian people are going through. They’re unable to defend the Palestinian people,” he lamented.He acknowledged however “that they don’t have much freedom to operate.”The situation in the West Bank is “very dangerous” and could lead to “chaos,” he added.Marwan Barghouti’s future remains unknown.Israel has refused to release him in any of the prisoner exchanges since the Gaza war erupted.“He’s a political threat to the current ambitions of the current Israeli government,” maintained Arab Barghouti.But he and his family refuse to entertain any thoughts that his father may never be released. It “is not an option that we think of.”“He’s my hero. He’s my role model, of course. But as a Palestinian, he gives me hope. And I want to support his vision in any way possible.”