Barghouthi calls on Abbas to stop depending on the option of negotiation alone

November 21, 2009

GAZA, (PIC)-- Marwan Al-Barghouthi, a member of Fatah's central committee, called on Mahmoud Abbas to stop depending on the option of negotiation alone to achieve an independent Palestinian state, stressing that this option reached an impasse.

"Whoever thinks that the occupation will leave through unequal negotiations in seven star hotels is completely wrong; it is always required to combine between negotiation and resistance on the ground," Barghouthi underlined in an interview conducted in his Israeli prison cell through his lawyer and published Saturday by different newspapers.

The Fatah official called for hastening to achieve national reconciliation and holding a meeting soon between the political bureau of Hamas and the central committee of Fatah followed by a meeting between leaders of Palestinian factions.

The official also urged the captors of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to stick to the list of prisoners they demanded Israel to release and called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to support the demands of the resistance, especially since its negotiations failed to release prisoners.

In a new development, Abbas’ militias kidnapped seven Palestinian citizens affiliated with Hamas during the last two days in the districts of Jerusalem, Nablus, Tulkarem and Al-Khalil.

For its part, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped in Jenin a student at the university of Al-Najah called Jihad Rabai’ah, who was an ex-detainee in Abbas’ jails.

In a separate incident, an official source in the Islamic Jihad Movement reported Saturday that one of its cadres called Abdelfattah Khozaima underwent several surgeries as a result of his exposure to severe torture at the hands of Abbas’ militias, adding that he is heavily guarded by these militias in the governmental hospital.

The source noted that Khozaima has been in jail for two months, holding the PA in Ramallah fully responsible for his life.