Marwan Barghouti, sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004 after being convicted of multiple lethal attacks against Israelis, is seen by many Palestinians as a possible future leader and was a driving force in the uprising they launched in 2000.
Last week, he said in a statement that “the launch of large-scale popular resistance at this stage serves the cause of our people.” He also said the prospect of ending Israeli occupation and achieving a state through negotiations was an illusion. Prisons Authority spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said that as punishment for issuing the statement, Barghouti “has been placed in isolation for a week and denied visits and access to the inmates’ canteen for a month.”
From prison, Barghouti’s views continue to resonate with the Palestinian public. The 52-year-old leading member of Fatah enjoys support beyond his movement and across the spectrum of Palestinian factions.
Observers have speculated that Israel might at some point release Barghouti to strengthen the hold of the more secular Fatah movement on the Palestinian political scene and stem the popularity of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a prominent Palestinian family could not claim ownership of a landmark and now derelict building in East Jerusalem — paving the way for a Jewish settlement project. The Husseini family said the Shepherd Hotel, now partially demolished, is a symbol of the Palestinian rights to their land and to East Jerusalem, and criticised the court ruling.
The Shepherd Hotel was built in the 1930s and served as the home of Jerusalem Grand Mufti Haj Amin Husseini, who fought the British and Zionists.
It was declared “absentee property” by Israel after it was captured and annexed to East Jerusalem in 1967. The title was transferred to an Israeli firm, which sold it in 1985 to Irving Moskowitz, a Florida businessman and patron of Jewish settlers.
In 2009, Israel’s Jerusalem city hall approved a project to replace the building with a block of 20 apartments. Israeli officials said Washington had voiced its opposition to the plan to Israel’s ambassador in the United States. “This property, which is legitimately ours, represents the Palestinians’ rights to their land and to Jerusalem,” Mona Husseini, heir to the property and Husseini’s granddaughter, said on Monday. In dismissing the family’s case, the court said too much time had passed since Israeli authorities had transferred the property to private developers for a legal challenge to be brought, a lawyer for the petitioners said.
