Marwan Barghouti: Encyclopedia II - Marwan Barghouti - Biography

Marwan Barghouti - Biography

Barghouti was born in Ramallah, and became active in Fatah at the age of 15. Marwan Barghouti should not be confused with Mustafa Barghouti, a distant cousin. By the age of 18 in 1976, Marwan Barghouthi was arrested by Israel for his involvement in a Palestinian uprising, and learned Hebrew during his time in Israeli prisons. After his release, he returned to the West Bank and became president of the student body at Birzeit University, where he received a bachelor's degree in history and political science and a master's degree in international relations. He is married to Fadwa Barghouti.

Marwan Barghouti - First Intifada

Barghouti was one of the major leaders of the First Intifada in 1987, leading Palestinians in a mass uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank. During the uprising, he was arrested by Israel and deported to Jordan, where he stayed for seven years until he was permitted to return under the terms of the Oslo Accords in 1994. In 1996, he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council, in which he advocated peace with Israel, sometimes coming in conflict with Yasser Arafat. The formal position occupied by Barghouti was the General Secretary of Fatah in the West Bank.

By the summer of 2000, Barghouti and Arafat had grown increasingly at odds with each other, with Barghouti accusing Arafat's administration of corruption and his security services of human rights violations, and Arafat was planning to fire him shortly.

Marwan Barghouti - Second Intifada

However, as the Second Intifada began, Barghouti became increasingly popular as a leader of the Fatah Tanzim militia. This was perhaps due to the transformation of Tanzim into an organization more resembling militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, responsible for dozens of civilian deaths in drive-by shootings. The Tanzim has also carried out suicide bombings in Israel under the name al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. Barghouti himself, however, has declared that he is against the killing of any Israeli civilians, and believes only the Israeli military should be attacked.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Biography", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki