Blaming the victim, Barghouti claims the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers — which sparked the month-long war with Hizballah and escalated operations in the Gaza Strip — is Israel’s fault for not releasing its Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners. Of course, Barghouti has a vested interest in this, as he sits in an Israeli prison serving five life sentences for the deaths of four Israelis and a Greek monk. From YNet News: “Barghouti: More kidnappings if top prisoners not freed”
If senior Palestinian security prisoners are not released as part of the prisoner swap deal to free kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, more kidnappings will likely ensue, jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti said.
Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison, expressed this view during a one-and-a-half hour meeting Wednesday with MK Taleb El-Sana at the prison’s visiting quarters. In addition to Shalit’s release, the two discussed the pending PA unity government and the implications of the war in Lebanon.
El-Sana said he came away with the impression that Barghouti was in heightened spirits and that he was familiar with the smallest details of the political realities in both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
According to El-Sana, during their conversation Barghouti charged Israel with responsibility for the kidnappings. If Israel had agreed to free Samir Kuntar, the kidnappings in Lebanon could have been avoided, and Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners would have not only prevented the snatching of Shalit, but also strengthened Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ leadership.
Samir Kuntar (whom Palestinian Authority media has called a “beacon of light”) is serving multiple life sentences for killing an Israeli father and his two daughters in 1979. Barghouti would like this, and his own crimes, swept under the rug, lest the Palestinians kidnap more Israelis to use as bargaining chips for their release.
Barghouti added, “Just as Gilad Shalit is important to his family and country, so is every Palestinian prisoner.”
It has already been proven that the prisoners are the true leaders of the Palestinian people, he declared, as only they could draft the list of principles which became a basis of unity for the Palestinians, and came to be known as the “˜Prisoners”
Document.”
He noted that any step towards a prisoner swap deal must be approved by the prisoners themselves, and therefore if the deal doesn’t include senior detainees — it will only invite additional kidnappings.