Last update - 00:00 27/09/2006
Barghouti believes he will be released in prisoner exchange deal
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
Marwan Barghouti believes that he will be released from incarceration in Israel as part of a prisoner exchange deal, according to United Arab List MK Talab al-Sana, who met with the jailed Tanzim leader on Wednesday at Nafha prison.
In his conversation with al-Sana, Barghouti claimed that "my personal freedom is less important than the freedom of my nation."
Al-Sana believes that Israel's policy regarding Palestinian prisoners led to the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit: "The prisoners are public leaders of the first degree. If the Israeli government had followed its commitments by releasing them, the kidnapping issue wouldn't have been created."
Barghouti, who served as a member of the Palestinian parliament, was reelected while sitting in an Israeli prison. He is one of the authors of the Prisoners' Document, which is the basis for the current debate over the formation of a Palestinian unity government, and could serve as a blueprint for its basic laws.
"This is the source of Palestinian national consensus, and founding a government based on its principles would end the siege on the Palestinian Authority and end the suffering of the Palestinian people," Al-Sana quoted Barghouti as saying.
Barghouti has blamed Israel for ignoring the Prisoners' Document, which calls for the formation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. He has said that Israel is ignoring the Saudi peace initiative because it is not interested in furthering the peace process.
Al-Sana noted that "the authority to hold peace negotiations will be in the hands of the PLO, not Hamas. If the Israeli side is willing, progress can be made."
Al-Sana also said that keeping the Palestinian leaders imprisoned is an invitation for future kidnappings. It would be preferable, he said, to have the Palestinian leaders set free, so that they can work for peace.