Region | Palestinian Territories
Barghouti calls for popular resistance against Israel
Palestinian factions reject resumption of talks
- By Nasouh Nazzal, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 January 5, 2012
Ramallah: Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has said Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts are dead and called for mass "popular resistance" against Israeli occupation, in a letter penned from prison.
The letter was published yesterday, a day after Palestinian and Israeli negotiators held their first face-to-face meeting in more than 15 months in Amman.
"The peace process has failed, it's finished, it's not worth desperately trying to resuscitate a corpse," he wrote in the letter published in Palestinian newspapers.
"Consider 2012 as the year of massive peaceful popular resistance against colonialism, aggression, the Judaisation of [occupied] Jerusalem, the blockade and roadblocks," Barghouti wrote. He is serving several life terms for involvement in anti-Israel attacks.
Meanwhile, Palestinian factions expressed concerns over Tuesday's meeting.
Hamas said that the meeting to try to restart stalled peace talks was a "farce" and a "waste of time."
Series of meetings
The talks "contradict the hopes and aspirations of our people," Fawzi Barhoom, a spokesman for the Islamist group which rules the Gaza Strip, said. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Jouda, meanwhile, told a press conference that a series of meetings between Palestinians and Israelis will take place, some of which will be held in secret.
Factions, including the Palestinian Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine, rejected the meetings. Bassam Al Salhi, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Peoples' Party, said, "The last thing the Palestinians want was holding direct or indirect negotiations with Israel before it meets our demands".
Speaking to Gulf News, Hani Al Masri, a political analyst, said this was the worst possible way for the Palestinian leadership to return to the negotiating table. For more than a year, the Palestinian leadership had refused US, European, and French initiatives and all of a sudden, it had given up on its demands and resumed peace talks. "This is political suicide," he said. "The Palestinian leadership should reverse this course of action immediately."
— With additional inputs from agencies
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