RAMALLAH, West Bank, 9 April 2008 — Jailed senior Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti yesterday called for a comprehensive cease-fire and affirmed his support for a two-state solution in a message to Israelis.
“The vast majority of the Palestinian people, myself included, are ready for a historic reconciliation based on international resolutions that will result in the establishment of two states,” he said in a letter to Israeli Peace Now movement on its 30th anniversary.
“We are ready for reconciliation that will grant ours and your own children a life devoid of the threats of war and bloodshed... to this end, we must reach a comprehensive cease-fire as soon as possible,” he wrote.
Peace Now yesterday celebrated 30 years of pressing for peace with the Palestinians and campaigning against Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Barghouti, a senior West Bank leader considered to have been the mastermind of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, was jailed in 2004 and is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison for his role in deadly attacks.
But the senior member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party remains popular in the occupied territories, and is often spoken of as a successor to Abbas.
In 1982, Peace Now led a 400,000-strong protest at the same square.
The group’s call for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians used to be seen as a radical concept. But today it is the US-backed consensus view in Israel and at the core of peace negotiations. Peace Now’s dialogue with Palestinians goes back three decades to secret meetings with representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization in occupied east Jerusalem to discuss possible future peace talks.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian and wounded another during a raid into the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, medics said. An Israeli Army spokeswoman said troops operating inside the Hamas-controlled territory opened fire at several armed militants who had shot at their patrol.
The Popular Resistance Committees group identified the dead as Awad Al-Tahrawi and said he was one of its members.
Livni to Visit Qatar
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will visit Qatar on Sunday to discuss the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Daily Yediot Ahronot newspaper said that the visit also aims to bring into focus the Iranian nuclear program. In the earlier stages of the negotiations on Shalit’s release, which is mediated by Egypt, Hamas demanded the release of 450 prisoners from Israeli jails including some belonging to Fatah.
— With input from agencies
