The Sunday Times interviewed Arab Barghouti, the son of prominent Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti, who is being held by Israel, about his family’s fears that the Israelis will assassinate him.
Christina Lamb said she conducted the interview with Arabs in Ramallah, the capital of the West Bank, which has been experiencing tension since his father was arrested in 2002 during the second Palestinian intifada.
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The meeting came as Jewish settlers escalated violence across the West Bank, with Israeli forces carrying out raids and airstrikes in the largest operation there in 20 years.
Hope
“He is still the one who gives hope,” Arab, 33, told the newspaper, describing his father’s great strength as his ability to unite the Palestinian people. “He is a unifying figure, and we yearn for unity. The division has been very harmful.”
“The West wants to burnish Mandela’s reputation as a peaceful man whose goal was peace but who was willing to go to armed struggle to get the rights of the South African people and my father is no different,” Arab adds, citing comparisons with Nelson Mandela.
Arab described what is happening in the West Bank as “the worst situation,” saying, “They want to reduce our numbers, for us to live as minorities in poor neighborhoods, for us to feel that we have no homeland, and for them to frighten us.”
He continued: “The Israeli government is exploiting the world’s preoccupation with the genocide in Gaza to do whatever it wants in the West Bank.”
Mandela Palestine
Christina Lamb described Barghouti as the most popular politician among Palestinians, who consider him the Palestinian Nelson Mandela, as he tops the list of prisoners who could be released in exchange for about 108 Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, as part of negotiations to reach an agreement on a ceasefire.
Western countries have encouraged Barghouti’s inclusion in any potential prisoner exchange, seeing him as the only Palestinian capable of uniting Palestinian factions and helping resolve the current “crisis” in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The newspaper quoted an unnamed Western diplomat as describing Barghouti as “the most important political prisoner in the world today.”
She added, quoting Dr. Julie Norman, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of London and author of a book on Palestinian prisoners, that she expected his release to be a turning point in Palestinian politics and nationalism.
to torture
Like South African leader Nelson Mandela, Barghouti has now spent about 22 years in Israeli prisons.
The newspaper quoted an association concerned with the affairs of Palestinian prisoners, saying that 600 people were martyred in the West Bank since October 7, and 9,000 others were arrested, which the Sunday Times considered the largest number in 15 years.
Arab said that those now in detention, like Barghouti, as in the notorious Megiddo prison, are being treated the worst.
He expressed his belief that what happens to the prisoners goes unnoticed, adding: “I have never seen the Israeli prison authorities act with such madness or show such inhumanity.”
Killing prisoners
He added that many of the Palestinian prisoners released are barely recognizable because they have lost so much weight and there have been about 55 to 60 documented cases of prisoners being killed since October 7. “We were very worried that they would kill my father,” he continued.
He explained that the prison director entered Barghouti’s room after October 7 and ordered him to put his hands behind his back so that he would appear submissive to his fellow prisoners.
“Since I have made your leader surrender like this, I can make all of you surrender,” the prison warden was quoted as telling the prisoners. But Arab said his father refused to put his hands behind his back, “so they forced him and dislocated his shoulder.”
The son revealed that the Israeli guards kept moving his father between 4 or 5 prisons, subjected him to torture by shining bright lights on his face in his cell, and placed loudspeakers at the door to make him hear the Israeli national anthem loudly for long hours so that he could not sleep.
Arab went on to reveal the circumstances of his father’s arrest, saying: “In early March, prison guards attacked him and beat him severely on his face and shoulder,” expressing his belief that only the intervention of Western countries saved his father’s life.
“We are very grateful that many governments have intervened and put international pressure on the Israelis, especially the French and American governments, because they realize how important it is in the West Bank,” he says.
unknown fate
He noted that these governments believe that “my father represents the solution.” Commenting on Marwan Barghouti’s lead in opinion polls, Arab said, “It is no secret that he is the most popular leader in Palestine and this is for a reason – he is an open-minded politician who is not tainted by corruption and wants peace and prosperity, but not at the expense of the Palestinian people.”
But the son is still worried about his father’s safety, “He is not in good health, he has lost some weight due to the lack of food, and he has not received any treatment for his wounds.”
According to the Sunday Times, the last time Arab and his mother, Fadwa, saw Marwan Barghouti was two years ago. And even when they do see him, it is only a few minutes.
Although Arab was never arrested, the British newspaper confirms, he now fears being arrested at any time.
Asked by the newspaper reporter whether a third intifada, as some have predicted, was possible, he seemed composed. “I always remember my father’s words in court, when he said, ‘I am a peaceful man, but the Israelis must understand that there will be no peace or security for the Israeli people as long as there is an illegal occupation of our land,’” he said.
Arab predicted that if his father is released, he will run to replace Mahmoud Abbas as president of the Palestinian Authority. He said: “We are absolutely sure that he will be released, the time has come. We are waiting for the day when he will see his six grandchildren, whom he has never met.”
