Al-Barghouthi, who is a member of the Fatah Central Committee and Palestinian Parliament, said in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram that Palestinians “cannot wait for a state to rise as a result of negotiations,” adding that “whoever thinks we will get a state through negotiations is wrong.”
The Fatah official said that the Palestinian leadership “should take all of the Palestinian, Arab and international energy and go in September or even before that to the United Nations so that an independent state with pre-1967 borders and Jerusalem as its capital will be recognized.”
He stressed that the United States and Israel will not be able to thwart the Palestinian leadership’s move “if the Arab nation helps us.”
Al-Barghouthi had been frequently mentioned in recent years as a possible alternative to Palestinian President Mahmoud in the future as polls have ranked him as the third most popular choice for leadership.
He was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in absentia in 2006 and is seen by many Palestinians as a national hero and the most popular figure on the Palestinian street.
In 2006, Barghouthi was involved in shaping what became known as “the Palestinian prisoners’ document,” which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders and for the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees.
It was signed by prisoners representing of all major Palestinian factions, including Hamas.
Meanwhile, the US columnist Thomas Friedman said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has wasted his two years in office without truly attempting to achieve peace with the Palestinians.
“Netanyahu has not spent his time in office using Israel’s creativity to find ways to do a (peace) deal. He has spent his time trying to avoid such a deal — and everyone knows it. No one is fooled,” Friedman wrote in his latest opinion piece in the New York Times.
According to Friedman, “The only way for Netanyahu to be taken seriously again is if he risks some political capital and actually surprises people.”
Netanyahu is scheduled meet US President Barack Obama on Friday and speak before the US Congress about his peace plan with Palestinians.
He added that Netanyahu should not be addressing the US Congress, but rather the “Palestinians down the street”.
“Fine, put a map on the table. Let’s see what you’re talking about. Or how about removing the illegal West Bank settlements built by renegade settler groups against the will of Israel’s government”, Friedman said in response to Netanyahu’s speech that Israel was willing to cede certain areas in negotiations.
