Hinn palestínski Mandela

Góð grein eftir Uri Avnery: The Palestinian Mandela . Þegar Fatah og Hamas takast á, og Vesturveldi kynda undir ófriðarbálið og hernámið hríðversnar binda æ fleiri vonir við palestínska andspyrnumanninn Marwan Barghouti. Hann er álitinn þjóðarhetja í heimalandi sínu óháð flokkslínum (hann er sjálfur í Fatah). Hann situr nú í ísraelska fangelsinu Hasharon. Uri Avnery ber Barghouti einnig saman við Nelson Mandela og sér að þeir eiga ýmislegt sameiginlegt. Hann er meðal fjölmargra sem berjast fyrir að Marwan Barghouti verði látinn laus. Lesið þessa grein.

...Both became national heroes behind prison bars. Both were convicted of terrorism. Both supported violent struggle. Mandela supported the 1961 decision of the National African Congress to start an armed struggle against the racist government (but not against the white civilians). He remained in prison for 28 years and refused to buy his freedom by signing a statement denouncing "terrorism". Marwan supported the armed struggle of Fatah's Tanzim organization and has been sentenced to several life terms.

But both were in favor of peace and reconciliation, even before going to prison. I saw Barghouti for the first time in 1997, when he joined a Gush Shalom demonstration in Harbata, the village neighboring Bil'in, against the building of the Modiin-Illit settlement that was just starting. Five years later, during his trial, we demonstrated in the courthouse under the slogan "Barghouti to the negotiating table, not to prison!" ...