Release Barghouti - What were they thinking?

Marwan Barghouti has got to be the worst news possible for Israel and the peace process. His arrest and incarceration was a major factor in stopping the violence that he started and led, and which claimed over 1,000 lives. He has insisted repeatedly that the Palestinian refugees must return to Israel and Israel must give up all rights to East Jerusalem. Yet there are people who think it is a "good idea" to release him in order to get back hostage Gilad Shalit or weaken the Hamas. Here's part of the story...

 

Marwan Barghouti - Prince of Israeli-Palestinian peace??

11.04. 2008
http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000527.html
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Zionism & Israel Center http://zionism-israel.com

Labor party infrastructure minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer, who usually has a sober grip on reality, added his voice to those calling for the release of Marwan Barghouti, which supposedly is the only way to bring peace. Quoth Ben Eliezer:

At this rate Hamas will soon take over the West Bank. The only person who could put a stop to that is Barghouti.

Ben-Eliezer misses the point What matters to Israel, is not who controls what in the Palestinian Authority, but rather what policy Fatah and the PLO will follow regarding Israel and the peace negotiations.

Barghouti never hid his vision of "peace" and he has been consistent about three elements: Right of return of the Palestinian refugees, no compromise at all on Jerusalem, and the "right" of resistance if his demands are not met. Of course, exercise of "right" of return of the refugees would mean the end of the Jewish state. In a 1998 interview with Aaron Lerner of IMRA, Barghouti said:

...I think that the issue of Jerusalem is the core of the peace process in the Middle East. If the Israelis accept everything except Jerusalem then the peace process will collapse.

What is the meaning of a Palestinian state without Jerusalem as its capital? It would mean having a state composed of some village here and there and refugee camps. The soul of the Palestinian state will be Jerusalem.

IMRA: When you say 'Jerusalem' you mean all of Jerusalem beyond the 1967 line?

Barghouti: Yes, yes. Of course.

IMRA; There is no compromise on that.

Barghouti: Yes. Of course. I don't think that we have to make compromise after this. I prefer to live without peace and continue to fight without accepting a compromise on Jerusalem.

IMRA; If the PA had Al Aksa Mosque and other areas in eastern Jerusalem but not all of eastern Jerusalem?

Barghouti: Eastern Jerusalem is not just Al Aksa.

I am not a religious man. Jerusalem for me is the important thing as a Palestinian. It is the title of Palestine. And also from a geographical point of view it is very important, for example, for the South and North of the West Bank. Jerusalem united the Palestinians over history. It is the symbol of the Palestinian people.

It gets worse. Continued here: Marwan Barghouti - Prince of Israeli-Palestinian peace??