Marwan Barghouti is, in my opinion, the next leader of the Palestinians. I say there is no need to be alarmed, and that it is possible to talk about the possibility of releasing him. I would consider it. In my opinion, this move is legitimate, even though this person has been convicted of charges that are very grave and I don t make light of them. This surprising opinion is expressed in an interview with Haaretz by none other than Minister of National Infrastructure Benjamin Ben-Eliezer: a man whose worldview is planted deep in the concept of security, who as defence minister at the height of the Al Aqsa intifada promoted the doctrine of targeted assassinations. Although he has not yet called Barghouti the Palestinian Nelson Mandela, as Uri Avneri has, he does single him out as a relevant partner for a breakthrough in the peace process. Of all people, Barghouti, who has been imprisoned in Israel since April 2002, is serving five life sentences on charges of murdering Israelis in a series of terror attacks he ordered in his capacity as head of the Tanzim in the West Bank. There is a kind of psychological repugnance among us when it comes to talking about Barghouti, says Ben-Eliezer. I don t have any psychological repugnance of that sort. What I find repugnant is the future we are creating for our children. It is necessary to talk about everything and to examine everything, and to see what is good for the state of Israel. I m looking above all for security. And if talking with Barghouti results in him leading the Palestinians in the direction of making Hamas knuckle under, then that is what counts. Despite - or perhaps even because of - the timing (ahead of the peace conference in Washington, when Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is declaring that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is a partner), Ben-Eliezer is trying to offer a different look at the Palestinian leadership. From his cell in Hadarim Prison, Barghouti influences everything that goes on in the PA, including the Washington summit, he says. In my opinion, there is a triangle here, whether or not we like to talk about it, that includes Abu Mazen, Salam Fayyad and Marwan Barghouti. This is a triangle as far as we are concerned. No one should think that anything can happen without Barghouti. When Ben-Eliezer, a senior member of the innermost foreign policy/security cabinet (which includes right-wingers Avigdor Lieberman and Eli Yishai) expresses an opinion that until now was heard only from the extreme left of the political system, his statements merit special attention. Barghouti, in my best estimation, is in fact the tough side of the triangle that wins a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of respect, not only because of the fact that he is in prison, but rather because of, as jargon has it, he is the cleanest of them all. But you have to remember that we are also talking about a leader, who, even when he is a prisoner, should not be scorned and should be listened to. He is also the only leader for whom Hamas maintains a great deal of respect and I daresay there is even some awe of him in Hamas. So Barghouti is our hope? I know that it is very hard to say these things. But precisely as a security person, I am saying that we must look 10 years ahead. We must make an accounting of how much longer we will continue to keep our children in a situation of 50 days of reserve duty a year, and until when we will be investing everything we have in the issue of security. If we spoke to Yasser Arafat, who is considered the greatest murderer of Israel, we have to look at Barghouti attentively, even when he is a prisoner. And we have to see how we hold a dialogue with him and how we find the opening through which the peace process will also occur. We aren t dismissing anything. Mazal Mualemis a correspondent for Ha aretz. This abridged article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org. For the full text visit www.haaretz.com.
