Mustafa Barghouti
Encyclopedia
Mustafa Barghouti is a Palestinian
democracy activist. He was a candidate for the presidency
of the Palestinian National Authority
in 2005, finishing second to Mahmoud Abbas
, with 19% of the vote.
Barghouti was born in Jerusalem. The Barghouti
s are a large extended family from the village of Deir Ghassaneh (in the Ramallah
area) whose members also include imprisoned Fatah
leader Marwan Barghouti
, a distant cousin of Mustafa. Mustafa Barghouti is a medical doctor, trained in the former Soviet Union
and Jerusalem. He also received a degree in management from Stanford University
in the United States, as a Sloan Fellow. He currently lives in Ramallah.
In 1979, Barghouti founded the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, a non-governmental organization
which provides health care and related services in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip
. He continues to serve as the Union's president. In 1989, Barghouti was one of the founders of the Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute
, a think tank
representing an alliance of 90 Palestinian community organizations.
In 1991, Barghouti was a delegate to the Madrid Conference
, which was held with the aim of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
and the First Intifada
. In 1996, he ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for a legislative seat in the first Palestinian Authority elections. In 2002 Barghouti left the Palestinian People's Party
. In June 2002, Barghouti, Haidar Abdel-Shafi
, Ibrahim Dakkak
and Edward Said
established the Palestinian National Initiative
(al-Mubadara al-Wataniyya al-Filistiniyya), an attempt to build a reformist, inclusive alternative to both the established Palestine Liberation Organization
and to Islamic militant groups such as Hamas
. Barghouti currently serves as the Initiative's general secretary.
Barghouti has consistently criticized the PLO and Palestinian Authority for corruption. He supports non-violent resistance as the most effective means of overcoming Israel
i occupation. According to a Reuters
report, Bargouti "supports peace with Israel based on two states
with a Palestinian state in all territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, a capital in Arab East Jerusalem
and rights for refugees." He has indicated that recognition of a right of return
is a must, but that this could likely be implemented in a way mutually acceptable to both sides.
In 1996, Barghouti was injured while assisting victims of a violent clash between protestors and Israeli Defense Force soldiers in Ramallah. IDF soldiers fired near an area where medical personnel were working and shrapnel entered his shoulder. On January 3, 2003, he was arrested following an international press conference in East Jerusalem, on charges of disturbing the peace and entering the city illegally. During his detention, Barghouti was interrogated and suffered a broken knee, which, according to his account, was inflicted by blows from a rifle butt; he also reported that he received head injuries. He was released several days later.
Barghouti was a candidate in the election
for Palestinian Authority president, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Yasser Arafat
. In the announcement, Barghouti declared, "I will demand total and complete reform, fight any form of corruption, mismanagement, and consolidate the rule of law." He was arrested by Israeli forces during the election campaign and subsequently expelled from East Jerusalem when he was going to hold an election speech there. He was also prevented from entering Nablus
and Gaza
. Barghouti came second in the elections, receiving 19.8% of the vote.
In December 2005, the Independent Palestine list, a coalition of independents and NGO members in the legislative elections scheduled for January 2006
, announced Mustafa Barghouti as its top candidate. The list promised to fight corruption and nepotism, demand the dismantlement of what it termed the "apartheid wall", and to provide
Barghouti was detained on Tuesday 3 January 2006 while campaigning in the Arab quarter of East Jerusalem and was taken for questioning to a local police station. A statement on his behalf read: "Dr Barghuthi was meeting with ordinary Jerusalemites near Damascus Gate
, discussing their needs and the situation of Palestinians in east Jerusalem, when he was approached by six undercover Israeli security agents, arrested, and taken to the Russian Compound jail where he remains under detention."
Barghouti was newly elected to a seat on the Palestinian Legislative Council
in January 2006, along with one other member of the Independent Palestine list, after Independent Palestine won about 2.7% of the vote in the Council elections. He was Minister of Information in the short-lived Palestinian unity government
of March–June 2007.
On October 28, 2009, Barghouti was a guest on The Daily Show
with Jon Stewart
, alongside Jewish-American activist Anna Baltzer
.
On February 3, 2010, Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate and Co-founder of the Peace People (Northern Ireland), stated that she had nominated Mustafa Barghouti for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
democracy activist. He was a candidate for the presidency
Palestinian presidential election, 2005
The 2005 Palestinian presidential election — the first to be held since 1996 — took place on January 9, 2005 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Voters elected PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas as the new President of the Palestinian Authority to replace Yasser Arafat, who died on November 11,...
of the Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
in 2005, finishing second to Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
, with 19% of the vote.
Barghouti was born in Jerusalem. The Barghouti
Barghouti
Barghouti is the last name of a prominent Palestinian family...
s are a large extended family from the village of Deir Ghassaneh (in the Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
area) whose members also include imprisoned Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
leader Marwan Barghouti
Marwan Barghouti
Marwan Hasib Ibrahim Barghouti is a Palestinian political figure. He is regarded as a leader of the First and Second Intifadas. Barghouti at one time supported the peace process, but later became disillusioned, and after 2000 went on to become the main figure behind the Al-Aqsa Intifada in the...
, a distant cousin of Mustafa. Mustafa Barghouti is a medical doctor, trained in the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Jerusalem. He also received a degree in management from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in the United States, as a Sloan Fellow. He currently lives in Ramallah.
In 1979, Barghouti founded the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, a non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
which provides health care and related services in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. He continues to serve as the Union's president. In 1989, Barghouti was one of the founders of the Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute
Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute
The Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute was established in 1989 by a group of experienced researchers and health practitioners and development experts, including Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, committed to improving the status of health care for all Palestinians...
, a think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
representing an alliance of 90 Palestinian community organizations.
In 1991, Barghouti was a delegate to the Madrid Conference
Madrid Conference of 1991
The Madrid Conference was hosted by the government of Spain and co-sponsored by the USA and the USSR. It convened on October 30, 1991 and lasted for three days. It was an early attempt by the international community to start a peace process through negotiations involving Israel and the Palestinians...
, which was held with the aim of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
and the First Intifada
First Intifada
The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
. In 1996, he ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for a legislative seat in the first Palestinian Authority elections. In 2002 Barghouti left the Palestinian People's Party
Palestinian People's Party
The Palestinian People's Party , founded in 1982 as the Palestinian Communist Party, is a socialist political party in the Palestinian territories and among the Palestinian diaspora....
. In June 2002, Barghouti, Haidar Abdel-Shafi
Haidar Abdel-Shafi
Haidar Abdel-Shafi was a Palestinian physician, community leader and political leader who was the head of the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Conference of 1991.- Background :...
, Ibrahim Dakkak
Ibrahim Dakkak
Ibrahim Dakkak Ibrahim Dakkak Ibrahim Dakkak (born in Jerusalem in 1929, is a Palestinian civil engineer and activist.-Early life:Dakkak completed his secondary education in Palestine and graduated from the American University in Cairo with degrees in science and mathematics in 1947. He worked as a...
and Edward Said
Edward Said
Edward Wadie Saïd was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and advocate for Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a founding figure in postcolonialism...
established the Palestinian National Initiative
Palestinian National Initiative
Palestinian National Initiative is a Palestinian political movement or party led by Dr. Mustafa Barghouti.Its formation was formally announced on June 17, 2002 in Ramallah on the West Bank, part of the Palestinian Territories, by Dr. Haidar Abdel-Shafi, Dr...
(al-Mubadara al-Wataniyya al-Filistiniyya), an attempt to build a reformist, inclusive alternative to both the established Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
and to Islamic militant groups such as Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
. Barghouti currently serves as the Initiative's general secretary.
Barghouti has consistently criticized the PLO and Palestinian Authority for corruption. He supports non-violent resistance as the most effective means of overcoming Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i occupation. According to a Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
report, Bargouti "supports peace with Israel based on two states
Two-state solution
The two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the consensus solution that is currently under discussion by the key parties to the conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference in November 2007...
with a Palestinian state in all territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, a capital in Arab East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
and rights for refugees." He has indicated that recognition of a right of return
Palestinian right of return
The Palestinian right of return is a political position or principle asserting that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees and their descendants, have a right to return, and a right to the property they or their forebears left or which they were forced to leave in what is now Israel...
is a must, but that this could likely be implemented in a way mutually acceptable to both sides.
In 1996, Barghouti was injured while assisting victims of a violent clash between protestors and Israeli Defense Force soldiers in Ramallah. IDF soldiers fired near an area where medical personnel were working and shrapnel entered his shoulder. On January 3, 2003, he was arrested following an international press conference in East Jerusalem, on charges of disturbing the peace and entering the city illegally. During his detention, Barghouti was interrogated and suffered a broken knee, which, according to his account, was inflicted by blows from a rifle butt; he also reported that he received head injuries. He was released several days later.
Barghouti was a candidate in the election
Palestinian presidential election, 2005
The 2005 Palestinian presidential election — the first to be held since 1996 — took place on January 9, 2005 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Voters elected PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas as the new President of the Palestinian Authority to replace Yasser Arafat, who died on November 11,...
for Palestinian Authority president, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
. In the announcement, Barghouti declared, "I will demand total and complete reform, fight any form of corruption, mismanagement, and consolidate the rule of law." He was arrested by Israeli forces during the election campaign and subsequently expelled from East Jerusalem when he was going to hold an election speech there. He was also prevented from entering Nablus
Nablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
and Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
. Barghouti came second in the elections, receiving 19.8% of the vote.
In December 2005, the Independent Palestine list, a coalition of independents and NGO members in the legislative elections scheduled for January 2006
Palestinian legislative election, 2006
On January 25, 2006, elections were held for the Palestinian Legislative Council , the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority . Notwithstanding the 2005 municipal elections and the January 9, 2005 presidential election, this was the first election to the PLC since 1996; subsequent...
, announced Mustafa Barghouti as its top candidate. The list promised to fight corruption and nepotism, demand the dismantlement of what it termed the "apartheid wall", and to provide
a truly democratic and independent "third way" for the large majority of silent and unrepresented Palestinian voters, who favour neither the autocracy and corruption of the governing FatahFatahFataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
party, nor the fundamentalism of HamasHamasHamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
.
Barghouti was detained on Tuesday 3 January 2006 while campaigning in the Arab quarter of East Jerusalem and was taken for questioning to a local police station. A statement on his behalf read: "Dr Barghuthi was meeting with ordinary Jerusalemites near Damascus Gate
Damascus Gate
Damascus Gate is the main entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. It is located in the wall on the city's northwest side where the highway leads out to Nablus, and from there, in times past, to the capital of Syria, Damascus; as such, its modern English name is Damascus Gate, and its modern Hebrew...
, discussing their needs and the situation of Palestinians in east Jerusalem, when he was approached by six undercover Israeli security agents, arrested, and taken to the Russian Compound jail where he remains under detention."
Barghouti was newly elected to a seat on the Palestinian Legislative Council
Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza...
in January 2006, along with one other member of the Independent Palestine list, after Independent Palestine won about 2.7% of the vote in the Council elections. He was Minister of Information in the short-lived Palestinian unity government
Palestinian government of March 2007
The Palestinian national unity government formed on March 17, 2007 was a Palestinian cabinet headed by Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, founded following Saudi-sponsored negotiations in Mecca. On June 14 2007, Following the Hamas military takeover of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian President...
of March–June 2007.
On October 28, 2009, Barghouti was a guest on The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
with Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
, alongside Jewish-American activist Anna Baltzer
Anna Baltzer
Anna Baltzer is a Jewish-American activist for Palestinian human rights, author, and public speaker, known for taking positions counter to the Israeli government regarding the Palestinian territories, including the wall/fence and checkpoints...
.
On February 3, 2010, Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
Laureate and Co-founder of the Peace People (Northern Ireland), stated that she had nominated Mustafa Barghouti for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.
External links
- Dr. Barghouthi's blog, in English.
- A biography of Mustafa Barghouti
- The Palestinian National Initiative, English page
- Interview with Mustafa Barghouti on Radio France International International complicity helps Israeli "war crimes", says Barghouti
- BBC Profile: Mustafa Barghouti
- Speeches at University of Wisconsin–Madison (.mp3) (Spring 2006)
- 60 Minutes episode Is Peace out of reach? featuring Mustafa Barghouti, reported by Bob Simon, January 26, 2009
- Part 1 of an interview on the Daily Show, with Anna Baltzer & Jon Stewart Part 2