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Jailed Palestinian Leader Expects Uprising to Persist
Wed Feb 16, 2005 5:40 AM ET

By Allyn Fisher-Ilan

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi said on
Wednesday he expected a Palestinian uprising to persist in the West Bank despite
President Mahmoud Abbas's pledge to end all violence against Israelis.

Barghouthi, a grassroots figure in the four-year-old revolt, made his remarks to
an Israeli newspaper as Israel's parliament met for a crucial vote on Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate settlers from Gaza and parts of the
West
Bank.

The bill on settler compensation, one of the last obstacles Sharon faces, was
widely expected to pass despite fierce opposition from ultranationalists,
including some in his own party, who call the planned pullout a "reward for
terrorism."

In the latest sign of Palestinian frustration at the pace of efforts to renew a
long-stalled peace process, Barghouthi accused Israel of dragging its feet with
Abbas, saying "at this rate" he would not last in power more than another six
months.

Barghouthi, once touted as a potential successor to Yasser Arafat and now
serving
five life terms after an Israeli court convicted him of orchestrating deadly
attacks, told the Maariv daily he expected Israel's planned Gaza pullout to "go
quietly."

But when asked whether the uprising launched in 2000 after peace talks collapsed
was now over, Barghouthi replied: "The uprising will continue in the West Bank,
which you (Israel) will continue to hold onto."

The vast majority of Israel's 240,000 settlers live on occupied land in the West
Bank, where Sharon intends to hold onto large swathes of territory.

"The end of the uprising will come when there is an end to occupation.
Everything
is fragile, everything can come apart at any moment," Barghouthi said.

A senior Israeli official dismissed Barghouthi's comments as "scare tactics and
psychological warfare."

PLATFORM ON NON-VIOLENCE

Abbas was elected on a platform of non-violence and reviving a U.S.-backed peace
"road map" envisaging the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

He and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed to a ceasefire at a Feb. 8
summit in Egypt, and the truce has largely held though militants have yet to
give
it their formal backing.

But Barghouthi, a charismatic West Bank lawmaker arrested in 2002, accused
Israel
of making Abbas "a laughing stock" by failing to free large numbers of
Palestinian prisoners.

Freedom for 8,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails is a highly emotive issue for
Palestinians who regard them as uprising heroes. Abbas needs their release to
cement a ceasefire bid with militant groups for a halt to attacks against
Israel.

"At this rate, in another six months he will be no longer be (in power) and you
will miss him," said Barghouthi, whose withdrawal from the Palestinian
presidential race helped ensure victory for Abbas in the Jan. 9 election.

Barghouthi said Israel should free 5,000 prisoners, or more than four times the
900 inmates Israel has said it would release. "You are dragging your feet," he
told Israelis.

Sharon on Tuesday reaffirmed he would coordinate the Gaza pullout with what he
described as a "new Palestinian leadership that ... would like to stop terror."

It marks a major shift from Sharon's original intention of carrying out his
"disengagement" plan unilaterally while Arafat was alive.

Israel's parliament was due to vote on Wednesday on payments for 8,500 settlers
slated for evacuation from all 21 settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the
West
Bank later this year.

Families were expected to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars to leave
homes
and businesses.

Sharon has been vilified by ultranationalist Jews ever since his turnaround from
being the champion of the settler movement to a leader determined to pull out of
occupied land he says Israel has no intention of keeping in a final peace deal.




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