From Occupied Palestine

An historic development, but not peace
An interview with Mustafa Barghouthi
By JON ELMER
Z Magazine vol 18 no 12 (December 2005): pp. 45-46

[ed. a shorter version of this interview appeared in print]

Dr Mustafa Barghouthi is a leading Palestinian grassroots activist. He is a co-founder, with Edward Said and Haider Adbel-Shafi, of the Palestinian National Initiative of which he serves as General-Secretary. He finished as runner-up in the most recent Palestinian presidential elections. I spoke with him in his Ramallah office on 17 August 2005.

Ramallah, West Bank --

Elmer: Can you comment on your personal reaction to the images we have seen in the media of Jewish settlers being carried, crying, from their homes in Gaza?

Barghouthi: I guess any thief will feel sorrow if you take away that which he has stolen, but I think a lot of it is exaggerated and meaningless.

The property did not belong to the settlers, and they know that. It is not as though they were unaware of the fact that they were residing in occupied territory, on stolen land.

But I also feel they are right to say they were betrayed. Their government has betrayed them, from Shimon Peres to Ariel Sharon. These governments, especially Sharon, were the ones that encouraged them to settle on stolen land in Gaza. It was Sharon who used to be called 'the Bulldozer', because he was responsible for creating so many settlements on occupied land.

I hope that with all the sadness felt by these families