Start with freedom for the Palestinians: printer friendly version

Start with freedom for the Palestinians

Marwan Bishara IHT
Monday, June 07, 2004

The 'greater Middle East'

PARIS The leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized countries will devote much of their summit meeting this week in Sea Island, Georgia, to the question of how to advance good governance as a way to undermine fanaticism and combat terrorism in the greater Middle East. But they need to remember that democracy is not possible without democrats. They should devise new ways to groom and empower freedom seekers against the surge of radical and violent fundamentalists. Palestine is the ideal place to begin.

For the last three years, Arab youth has been mesmerized by two leaders, the radical fanatic Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and the secular democrat Marwan Barghouti in Palestine. Israel, which has lumped the two together as terrorists, condemned Barghouti to life imprisonment on Sunday. This will prove not only morally reprehensible, but also a setback for the struggle between freedom and fanaticism in the Middle East.

Barghouti and bin Laden started championing the struggle against foreign occupation and regional despondency a quarter of a century ago. But unlike bin Laden, who preached hatred, racism and violence and prided himself on killing the innocent, Barghouti advocated freedom, democracy and reconciliation.

A dozen years ago, Barghouti led the largest Palestinian party, Fatah, in support of the American-sponsored Middle East peace process between the Palestinians and Israel. Bin Laden, on the other hand, established and led a large terrorist organization, Al Qaeda, against Christians and Jews everywhere.

In the 1990s, while bin Laden went into hiding in the hills of Afghanistan under the protection of the fundamentalist Taliban and instigated terrorist attacks across the world, from Africa, Europe and the Middle East to New York, Barghouti became a member of the first freely elected Palestinian legislature and emerged as a vocal critic of corruption and nepotism.

For years, Barghouti toured the world promoting peace and dialogue. I still remember the satisfaction on his face after meeting his American and Israeli counterparts in Congress and the Knesset.

I came to know Barghouti when he was a student leader at Bir Zeit University and later a leader of the nonviolent uprising against the Israeli occupation in 1987. In spite of a decade of imprisonment and deportation, he remained a believer in reconciliation and stood against the killing of innocent civilians. The judges who condemned him to life imprisonment on Sunday admitted that he had not participated in any violent acts and that he had opposed attacks against Israeli civilians inside the Green Line "on principle."

Two years ago, the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon exploited the tragedies of Sept. 11 and America's campaign against bin Laden to carry its own politicide in Palestine, demonizing and silencing legislators and popular leaders like Barghouti. From his prison cell, Barghouti has vehemently rejected all charges against him under Israel's antiterrorism act. The only "crime" to which he has confessed is supporting his people's legitimate right to resist occupation.

Thanks to satellite television channels, this charismatic and courageous Palestinian leader has become an inspiration to all young Arabs, who make up 70 percent of their region's population. His vision of liberty, democracy and justice is diametrically opposed to bin Laden's fundamentalism and cult of death and destruction.

This is particularly important in a region of turmoil where a true opposition to fanaticism and tyranny will not come from local idealists or pacifist businessmen residing in Western capitals, but from courageous and active Arab leaders like Barghouti with a track record of sacrifice in the defense of human and national rights.

Squeezed between the dictatorship of the regimes that govern them and the aggressive interference of foreign powers, a new generation is polarized between Barghouti's struggle for freedom and bin Laden's suicidal jihad of destruction. But today, while bin Laden inflames the Arab world's impoverished and unemployed youth with hatred, Israel has decided to quell Barghouti's cry for freedom.

The Middle East - and the rest of the world - would be a much better place if Barghouti's dream of justice could overcome the bin Laden nightmare. Barghouti's vision of Palestinian-Jewish coexistence and his secular agenda for building democracy could undermine the violent fanaticism in the region.

When Nelson Mandela was convicted on charges of terrorism and condemned to a life sentence, he was as young as Barghouti, who is 45. Eventually Israel, like South Africa, will have to negotiate with the likes of Barghouti - reliable partners for peace who could implement signed agreements. That is why the G-8 leaders should face up to their moral and political responsibilities and demand that Palestine - and not only the minuscule Gaza Strip - be cleared of Israeli occupation and illegal settlements.

Fulfilling the long awaited dream of freedom for Palestine would improve the standing of America and its partners among the Arabs and increase the chances of partnership between the West and the greater Middle East.

Marwan Bishara, a visiting professor of international relations at the American University of Paris, is the author of "Palestine/Israel: Peace or Apartheid."