According
to the latest pictures I’ve seen of Marwan Barghouti, he can use a
little dieting. He’s grown a bit heavier, with his sedentary
lifestyle of late. Not like the early 2000’s, when he was active
and busy planning the murders of hundreds of Jews. Some say, he
helped plan the entire Oslo War - second intifadah.
Of
course cheating on his diet – i.e. hunger strike – as he did
earlier in the century, is no way to take off the pounds.
That’s
right, terrorist mastermind, mass murderer and part time dieter
Marwan Barghouti, called for a Palestinian security prisoner hunger
strike recently, the same Marwan who was caught in the past on video
cheating, eating food, while his comrades starved themselves to
liberate “Palestine”.
As
I wrote in “Palestinian Leaders Trick Their People Again” (2004),
“...while his fellow prisoners were refraining from food, Marwan
Barghouti, the Tanzim terrorist leader, was caught on camera feeding
his face. First he covered the door and window of his cell - so as
not to be seen - then he washed his hands and pigged out. According
to Prison Services spokesman Ofer Lefler, Barghouti asked wardens for
the food and ate without knowing that a camera was filming from a
small hole in the wall. Israel wanted to catch him, to show fasting
prisoners how their leader was behaving, Lefler said. I want to show
the world and the Palestinians that we are dealing with terrorists,
Lefler continued, Barghouti is sitting on a pot of meat and he sends
his friends to die.”
Barghouti
was a leader of the first intifadah, who was arrested by Israel and
deported to Jordan for seven years. He was allowed to return under
the Oslo deal in 1994. He was later elected to the Palestinian
Legislative Council in 1996. Barghouti founded the al-Aqsa Martyrs'
Brigade terror group and was the leader of Fatah’s armed wing, the
Tanzim terrorist organization during the Oslo War, before being
captured by Israeli forces in April 2002. He was tried in 2004, the
court acquitted him
of 21 counts of murder in 33 attacks for
“lack of sufficient evidence.” But he
was sentenced to five life sentences for five murders in
three attacks, plus an additional 40 years
imprisonment for attempted murder.
Even so, for years, assorted Israeli leftists, like Gush Shalom, former MKs Yossi Beilin, Meir Sheetrit, and even Shimon Peres, and some world leaders, have looked at Barghouti as a possible successor to Mahmoud Abbas, capable of delivering a peace agreement. Many of them touting him to be more moderate than Abbas.
He must be, last year Belgian Members of Parliament from across the political spectrum, nominated Barghouti for the Nobel Peace Prize. He seems to be following in the footsteps of that other well known peace monger, Yasser Arafat.
In addition to his former terrorist exploits, when Marwan Barghouti has made political statements, he’s said things such as, “After we attain a Palestinian state [in Judea and Samaria], there will be greater things for which to strive... There is no room for more than one state between the Jordan and the Mediterranean.” More moderate than Abbas?
Peace delusional Israelis and others, only see Barghouti’s friendly side. But as a terrorist leader and then pop-star security prisoner for the last fifteen years, Barghouti is very popular on the Palestinian street. According to the last poll done by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, about elections, No. 59 in 2016, if the presidential elections were between Marwan Barghouti and Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, Barghouti would receive 57% and Haniyeh would receive only 39% of the vote. Evidently violence - murdering Jews - sells in “Palestine”.
Barghouti
was recently elected to the Fatah Executive Committee. And, according
to Dr. Mordechai Kedar of the BESA Center at Bar-Ilan University, in
spite of the list of demands of the prisoners, Barghouti really
organized the hunger strike “...because he wants to position
himself as ‘the leader’ not only inside the prisons, but of all
the Palestinian Authority. He wants to challenge Abbas...”
It
seems Palestinians love their leaders murderous, corrupt, and
duplicitous, they’re probably cheering him on...
After
his Op-Ed and the NYT scandal, Israel moved Barghouti to solitary
confinement. He might find it easier to eat there again, away from
the eyes of the other prisoners.
Well,
if you want to be president, don’t cheat this time Marwan. Put that
piece of pizza down!Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko. He can be contacted at: ArielNatanPasko@columnist.com
(c) 2017/5777 Pasko
Published at: Washington Jewish Week, Jewish News of Arizona, Intermountain Jewish News - Denver, CO, Arutz Sheva/IsraelNationalNews.com, etc.
