Aggiornamento del 12 dicembre 2006

Ha proprio ragione Israel Shamir: Gli ‘Assassini’ traevano il loro potere dalla capacità e prontezza ad assassinare capi crociati o musulmani, lasciando vivi solo governanti deboli che non osavano toccarli.

Gli ebrei fanno lo stesso: a volte con la spada, a volte col denaro, a volte coi media, sicché nessun leader forte sorga nella loro sfera d'influenza.

Marwan Barghouti: No Peace With Occupation

I have finally finished the biography of Marwan Barghouti that I was aiming to get online in time for the PLC elections of 26 January.

Barghouti is the most prominent prisoner among the 10,000 Palestinians currently in Israeli jails. He is an unambiguous supporter of the two-state solution, recognises Israel within its 1967 borders, and was an early and enthusiastic advocate of the Oslo Accords. However, he became increasingly convinced by the continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories through the 1990's that Israel's commitment to a negotiated peace was a sham, and that Israeli would never be persuaded to end the Occupation by negotiations alone. When the Oslo process collapsed in October 2000, Barghouti was a vocal supporter of armed intifada, as a means of bringing home to Israelis the fact that as long as they remained occupiers, they would never have security.

Barghouti was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences plus 40 years in May 2004 for complicity in five killings carried out by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, charges he denies. Since his conviction, his popularity with the Palestinian public has soared, and since Arafat's death he has been easily the most highly-regarded leader by Palestinian public opinion. Barghouthi is widely-regarded as a likely future Palestinian leader, and what you think of that prospect depends on where you are coming from: if you're Silvan Shalom, Barghouti is the personification of Palestinian terrorism who will never be released; if you're Yossi Beilin, he's the good Palestinian gone bad, who nevertheless represents a better alternative for Israel than Islamist leadership of the PA. If you're a pro-Oslo Palestinian, he's the leader who's going to get you where you once thought Oslo was meant to lead; and if you're an anti-Oslo Palestinian, he's another of those Fatah quislings who even now is conspiring with Abu Mazen and the Young Guard to overthrow the Hamas government and sideline the external Fatah leadership...

So, I guess that's something for everyone. Read Barghouthi's bio here, or via the Palestinian Biographies link in the left sidebar.

Many thanks to Laurence of Cyberia