Marwan Barghouti is one of the most prominent leaders of Fatah and has been detained since 2002 (Getty Images)

Marwan Barghouti returned a news that makes headlines in the Israeli newspapers, as it was 22 years ago after his kidnapping from Ramallah, and at a time when negotiations and prisoner releases are continuing between the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and Israel, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth indicates that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) insists that the next exchange deal include 3 Palestinian leaders, including Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who is nicknamed "Abu al-Qassam".

In mid-January 2002, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon broke the most prominent ceasefire declared by the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in the Second Intifada, and gave the green light to the assassination of Raed al-Karmi, a leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and one of its most prominent founders, which ignited the situation in Palestine.

At the time, Fatah secretary Marwan Barghouti said on Al Jazeera that "this crime will push our people to respond more than the Sharon government imagines."

A few hours after al-Karmi's assassination, the Al-Aqsa Brigades (the military wing of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement Fatah) killed an Israeli soldier and wounded two near Nablus, and under the slogan "We will take revenge", threatened further reprisals, carrying out a series of bombings and shootings against Israel, killing dozens and wounding hundreds.

Israel assassinated Raed al-Karmi, commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Tulkarm in 2002 (Reuters)

Two days after the assassination, Barghouti sent a message to Sharon in an article he wrote in the Washington Post: "You want safety? He told the Israelis that "the assassinations carried out by the Sharon government will not bring you safety," but he was keen to point out that he is "a Palestinian man of peace," as he was expelled from Palestine in 1987 because of his role in the first intifada, and returned at the head of the first group of deportees to the territories occupied in 1994 under the Oslo Accords.

The Palestinian response to the Israeli assassination policy continued for many months, and bombings were successive in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and at Israeli military checkpoints, and the Al-Aqsa Brigades at that time crowded out the Qassam (the military wing of Hamas) in the quality of its operations, although it was only a year ago, and clashes returned to the streets of Palestinian cities, so Sharon launched Operation Defensive Wall and swept the West Bank.

In mid-April 2002, Israeli newspapers were abuzz with pictures of the Fatah secretary-general with news of his arrest, while Israeli tracks were incursions into Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem and the rest of the West Bank.

Israeli forces arrested Barghouti from Ramallah on April 15, 2002 (Getty Images)

Sharon announced at the time that Barghouti "will be tried for his crimes," accusing him, "killing hundreds of Israelis," while his chief of staff Shaul Mofaz – who was leading the storming of the Jenin camp from a helicopter in the air – considered his arrest "the army's gift to the Israeli", and other Israeli newspapers drew the organizational structure of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, headed by the name of Barghouti, he is the elected deputy in the Palestinian parliament, and the secretary of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement "Fatah", and was kidnapped from the Palestinian Authority areas, which was contrary to the agreements The signing between the occupation and the PLO.

Former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter, now agriculture minister, revealed that Barghouti was the target of assassination before his arrest but survived each time.

On April 15, 2002, Marwan Barghouti was taken to the Russian Compound detention center in occupied Jerusalem, one of the most famous interrogation centers under the Israeli General Security Service (Shin Bet), and then the interrogator "Ghazal" – who interrogated him in 1978 in the cells of Ramallah when he was a boy – met him and told him that he had become deputy head of the Shin Bet at the time, revealing his real name "Ofer Dekel", and told him: It's the end.

Barghouti, who is still in prison, recounts his experience in cells from 2002 to 2005 in his book A Thousand Days in Solitary Isolation.

Israeli tanks overran West Bank cities during Operation Defensive Shield in the second intifada (Reuters)

In front of Ghazal, Barghouti recalls those moments when he was a high school student and had his first experience of detention in Israeli prisons, saying: "Unconsciously I felt my body, I remembered how difficult and arduous it was for a school student to completely strip naked in front of an Israeli interrogator, asking him to open his legs and kick him between them.

He recalls that "eternal scar" in his forehead, when his head hit the wall as a result of torture, saying, "I wished to tell them that my son Qassam became a man carrying the banner and the idea," stressing that what he experienced during the interrogation is negligible in front of what tens of thousands of Palestinians are exposed to.

He was arrested as the "architect of the intifada," as Palestinians call it, at a time when Israeli prisons and interrogation cells are overwhelmed with prisoners, prompting retired interrogation officers to return to work, which Barghouti says have "spent their lives torturing thousands of militants" and have experience in both psychological and physical torture.

Marwan Barghouti (centre) survived several failed assassination attempts (Getty Images)

Barghouti believes that the recent experience is different from the previous ones, especially since its early years came in light of the continuation of the second intifada, amid bloody confrontations, and a siege imposed by the occupation as part of the "Defensive Wall" operation announced by Sharon two days after the attack carried out by the Palestinian from Tulkarm Abdel Basset Odeh on March 27, 2002, at the Park Hotel in Netanya, north of Tel Aviv, which killed 29 Israelis and wounded dozens.

Every commando operation gave me more power and confirmed the validity of the option of uprising and resistance.

by Marwan Barghouti

In the Russian Compound, interrogators use all forms of insults, humiliation, obscene insults and psychological pressure, and to demoralize him, the interrogators used to repeat to him that "Israel is like a wall, whoever hits his head with it will explode, that it defeated the Arabs in 1948 and 1967, that Egypt surrendered to it at Camp David, that the Arabs are not on your side, that many Arab countries do not want a Palestinian state, that the Palestinian Authority is corrupt, that many of its leaders do not want to see Marwan Barghouti forever, and that Palestine She rested..".

Regarding the master's degree in history and political science, which al-Assir holds from Birzeit University, the interrogator told him that it is from "a primitive, backward university that does not fit a kindergarten," as he headed the student council at the university in 1983 in addition to his studies, and was elected president of the council for three consecutive years.

The days of interrogation with Barghouti were characterized by bitterness and cruelty, especially since the Palestinian operations did not stop, and this increased the intensity of the jailer's hatred, which is reflected on the prisoner tortured, says the Fatah leader, "Every commando operation was giving me more strength and confirming the validity of the option of intifada and resistance."

The most important thing for the Israeli government was that Barghouti rule for life, as he held direct responsibility for the deaths of a number of Israelis, indirect responsibility for the deaths of 140 others, as well as leading the intifada and establishing the Al-Aqsa Brigades.

Barghouti denied all Israeli accusations and stressed that his role is political and has nothing to do with military actions (Getty Images)

Barghouti, who has long experience in prisons, and whom the occupation forces have failed to assassinate previously, explains that the strategy he followed in the interrogation was not to cooperate with the interrogators, not to provide any information, and to be determined to endure the torment, even if it was to be martyred.

There, in the cells, the interrogator asks him the name of his eldest son: Did you name him out of admiration for the Qassam Brigades? Or after the leader Izz al-Din al-Qassam?, and also told him, "You and Arafat claim that you are with peace, but you are liars and terrorists. The Oslo agreement was Israel's biggest mistake," he said, vowing that the occupation would not leave the West Bank.

Another interrogator insisted on finding out why his children were called al-Qassam, Sharaf, Arab and Ruba.

Barghouti replied, "Because I love Izz al-Din al-Qassam, who is an immortal symbol in our hearts, while Sharaf is named after a colleague from Khan Yunis in Gaza, who was killed by the occupation when he was in the fifth year of the Faculty of Engineering, and about Arabs, because I am an Arab, I am proud of my Arabism, and my Lord, because I love the land."

Abu al-Qassam says in his book on cells that the interrogators made a strenuous effort in psychological warfare, where they use the Arab case, which they describe as defeated and repeat that "Arabs are nothing more than zeros and suffer from mental retardation" in order to spread despair and frustration in the same prisoner, except for humiliation and sowing fear, one of the interrogators told him, "You will spend your life in prisons, and die in them, you will stay until you rot, and you will live a life of humiliation and humiliation in solitary cells or with some prisoners." They told him, "You are no longer a member of parliament, nor a Fatah official, because Arafat appointed a replacement for you."

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades carried out qualitative operations against Israel in the Second Intifada (Anatolia)

In prison, Barghouti's interrogation focused on several axes, most notably:

  • First: The relationship with Arafat, especially with regard to financing and the decision to conduct armed operations.
  • Second: Chairing the organization and establishing the armed Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
  • Third: Arming and financing Palestinian cells and supervising dozens of operations that killed more than 100 Israelis.
  • Fourth: Sources of funding, whether from abroad or from within, and how they arrived.
  • Fifth: The relationship with the Palestinian resistance factions and the existing coordination between them in various areas.
  • Sixth: The link to high-profile operations such as the "Ein Arik" attack that took place near Ramallah in 2002 and resulted in the death of 6 Israeli soldiers, as well as the Hadera attack in 2001, Tel Aviv in 2002, and a number of other attacks.

I named my son Qassam because I love Izz al-Din al-Qassam, who is an immortal symbol in our hearts, while Sharaf is named after a colleague of mine from Khan Yunis in Gaza, who was killed by the occupation when he was in the fifth year of the Faculty of Engineering, and about Arabs, because I am an Arab, I am proud of my Arabism, and my Lord, because I love the land.

By Barghouti

During the interrogation period, Barghouti traveled to several centers such as the Russian Compound, Petah Tikva and the secret interrogation center No. 1391, which took about 3 hours to reach from the Russian Compound center in Jerusalem. Interrogator: This place is scary, but you forced us to bring you here.

Abu al-Qassam was a prominent presence during the Second Palestinian Intifada (Getty Images)

In the cells of Petah Tikva, the interrogators brought "Asfour", (an agent recruited by the occupation and represents the role of the resistance detainee in order to extract the prisoner's confession) claiming that he is from a Palestinian town, and that he is the brother of one of the most important former companions of Arafat, and the "bird" was trying to capture information about possible cooperation between Barghouti and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Marwan surprised him that he knows the town well, and that he visited it when he was chased in the eighties before the occupation expelled him outside the country, and that he recommended the lawyer to contact the people of (Al-Asfour) and reassure them about their son. Barghouti says that "the next day he disappeared and I only saw him in court."

On August 14, 2002, the first session of his trial, in front of the families of the dead Israelis and the media, Barghouti raised his handcuffed hands, calling in Arabic, Hebrew and English: The intifada will win, the intifada will win, and he kept waving that victory for 30 sessions.

In the last session of his trial, Barghouti recalls that he saluted the Palestinian people, their Arab and Islamic nations and the free people of the world, and said addressing the judges: "You are no different from the Apache pilots who assassinate my people day and night," and after the verdict was pronounced, the president of the court said: "The next session will be held in about 540 years."

Barghouti is very popular among Palestinians (Getty Images)

In 2003, the occupation transferred him to solitary confinement, in Ramle prison, adjacent to the prisoner Ahmed Barghouti, nicknamed "the Frenchman", the commander in the Al-Aqsa Brigades, who has been detained since 2002 and sentenced to 13 life sentences and 50 years, then to Shata prison, which is known for its cruel isolation, adjacent to him in the cell of the prisoner Hassan Salameh, one of the most prominent leaders of the Qassam and sentenced to life imprisonment 48 times, and then to Beersheba, and his neighbor Abdullah Barghouti was one of the leaders of Hamas sentenced to life imprisonment 67 times.

In the cell unit and its lonely nights, Barghouti remembers his hometown of Kobar in 1959, and the mornings of Ramallah, nostalgic for his children and his wife, then staring at the ceiling of the cell, and wondering: What prompted me to carry a gun? He reads the Qur'an and remembers the intifada, the sacrifices of the martyrs, the suffering of the prisoners and the question of Palestine.

In isolation, Abu al-Qassam reads the books the jailer allows him to enter, reads Hebrew newspapers, and follows the writings of Israelis about the intifada, such as Avi Asksharov, Amos Harel, Ofer Shelah, Raviv Drucker, Gideon Levy, Amira Hess and others.

Marwan observes the events of the ongoing intifada, the Palestinian responses to the Israeli assassinations of Palestinian leaders, writes letters to his wife, lawyer Fadwa Barghouti, and follows the vicissitudes of the Palestinian scene, the storming of the boycott in Ramallah and the news of Arafat's departure: "I felt sorry for his passing, and hopeless because he left Fatah at its worst. Palestine was not only his concern, but it lived all over his body and Jerusalem was his only obsession."

During his arrest, Barghouti contributed to the drafting of the "National Reconciliation Document" issued by the imprisoned leaders of the various Palestinian factions in the Israeli occupation prisons. In the 2006 elections, he headed Fatah's unified list in the second Palestinian legislative elections, won a membership in the Council, won a membership in Fatah's Central Committee at the Sixth Congress held in 2009, and retained his seat in the movement's seventh General Conference.

In 2011, Israel refused to release him as part of the Shalit deal, after he was at the top of the list of prisoners demanded by Hamas.

Israel refused to release Barghouti as part of the Shalit deal (French)

To draw the world's attention to the just cause of prisoners, Barghouti and more than 2017,1500 Palestinian prisoners went on hunger strike in 41 under the name of the "Dignity Strike", which lasted <> days, in alliance and agreement with Commander Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

During his 21 years of imprisonment, Barghouti continued to communicate with Fatah and Palestinian factions, and ran for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority in mid-January 2021, calling in all his messages for the compass to remain Palestine.

Marwan Barghouti is seen as a man of peace absent in Israeli prisons, as seen by the Swiss newspaper Lotan, capable of "changing the face of the Palestinian Authority," as Yedioth Ahronoth, the most popular Fatah leader for its presidency after Mahmoud Abbas, at a time when the latest poll among Palestinians shows that 90% of them are calling on the president to resign, with support for armed action to confront the occupation rising.

Source : Al Jazeera