Latest news with #MarwanBarghouti
The National
3 days ago
- Politics
- The National
Hamas to discuss list of Palestinians to be freed from Israeli jails with Gaza truce mediators
Egyptian and Qatari mediators are set to meet senior Hamas officials in Doha on Saturday to go over a list of Palestinian detainees the group wants Israel to release as part of a hostage swap, sources told The National on Saturday. The latest negotiations towards a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas began in Doha on July 6 amid high expectations fuelled by upbeat comments made by US President Donald Trump that suggested a deal was within reach. The talks have over the past week made significant progress but sticking points remain over issues such as the release of Palestinians from Israeli jails and what comes when a proposed 60-day truce ends. The sources said Saturday's round of discussions will be focused on finding a compromise to overcome Israel's opposition to the release of high-profile Palestinians serving long jail terms following their conviction on security-related charges. The most prominent of those prisoners is Marwan Barghouti, a senior leader of the Palestinian Fatah group who is widely viewed as a successor to President Mahmoud Abbas, who is in his 80s. The sources said the mediators and Hamas officials will also be discussing the mechanisms of distributing humanitarian assistance when a proposed 60-day truce goes into effect. Hamas, according to the sources, wants the aid to be distributed across the coastal enclave and through UN agencies and their affiliated groups. Israel is reluctant to abandon plans to create a 'humanitarian city' near the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where it wants 600,000 Palestinians to be pushed into and receive aid, the sources said – an arrangement likened by critics to a concentration camp. Israel does not want UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, to be involved in humanitarian operations in Gaza, a position that reflects Israel's distrust of the agency that has worked in Gaza for decades. The UN has warned of famine in the Gaza Strip as supplies are being held back by Israel in lorries at the border. While small amounts are distributed in the north, most of the aid in the south is being handled by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Its distribution centres have been the scenes of numerous deadly incidents. At least 32 Palestinians were killed at an aid distribution site in Gaza on Saturday morning, adding to many who have died each day since the inception of the GHF in May. The sources said that focusing Saturday's meeting on the Palestinian prisoners and aid did not mean that another key issue – Israel's withdrawal from Gaza during the proposed truce – has been resolved. 'Some progress has been made on the issue of the withdrawal but more discussions are needed,' said one source. 'But everyone agreed it would be good to move to other pending issues that can be completely resolved and then return to the tough one on withdrawal.' Hamas has repeatedly called for the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave as part of a truce deal. Besides the 60-day truce, the main terms of the proposed deal is for Hamas to free 10 living hostages. Mr Trump on Friday said the captives would be released soon. 'We got most of the hostages back. We're going to have another 10 coming very shortly, and we hope to have that finished quickly,' he said.
CNN
20-04-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Last look: Is a prisoner the key to who should govern Gaza?
One of the most vexing questions for a post-war Middle East — who will govern the over 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza? A solution may lie in the jailed Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti. Who is he? I'll explain.
CNN
20-04-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Last look: Is a prisoner the key to who should govern Gaza?
One of the most vexing questions for a post-war Middle East — who will govern the over 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza? A solution may lie in the jailed Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti. Who is he? I'll explain.
Saba Yemen
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Barghouti.. 24 years inside Israeli jails
Ramallah - Saba: On Tuesday, prisoner Marwan Barghouti enters his 24th year in Israeli prisons, amid escalating Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and prisoners in its jails. The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said in a statement on Tuesday that this anniversary comes at a time of greatest bloodshed for the Palestinian people, as the Israeli enemy continues its systematic genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. The Prisoners' Club noted that since the beginning of the war of extermination, prisoners and leaders of the prisoners' movement, including Barghouti, have been subjected to unprecedented levels of abuse, isolation, theft, torture, and assault. It explained that the prison system has deliberately entrenched all its tools to target our prisoners, deny them their rights, and strip them of what they have achieved through blood and sacrifice. Barghouti, along with his comrades, has been subjected to repeated isolation and transfers, and according to the latest information, he is currently being held in solitary confinement in Ramon Prison. It explained that during his repeated transfers and isolation, he was subjected to repeated attacks by repression units, along with a group of leaders of the prisoners' movement. The Palestinian Prisoners' Club emphasized that these measures and policies, which the Israeli enemy escalated after October 7, 2023, and which did not arise today, constitute a pattern and extension of its repressive and retaliatory policies since its occupation of our land, during which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been subjected to arrest, abuse, and torture. It should be noted that Barghouti was born in 1959 in the town of Kobar, northwest of the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. He was arrested for the first time in 1976, then re-arrested by the Israeli enemy for the second time in 1978, and for the third time in 1983. After his release in 1983, he enrolled at Birzeit University and was elected president of the student council for three consecutive years. He was re-arrested by the Israeli enemy again in 1984 for a short period, followed by a subsequent arrest in 1985, which lasted for 50 days. During this time, he was subjected to harsh interrogation, placed under house arrest, and subsequently placed under administrative detention that same year. On April 15, 2002, after a long manhunt, Israeli forces arrested him in the Al-Irsal neighborhood of Ramallah. He was sentenced to five life sentences and forty years in prison in 2004. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
Al Jazeera
16-02-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Israel frees hundreds of Palestinians after captives in Gaza released
Hamas released three more Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip in the sixth such exchange following days of tense negotiations that threatened to undo the precarious ceasefire. In return, Israel began returning 369 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails on Saturday, most without any charges or convictions. It is the largest number of Palestinians to be freed since the beginning of the truce. Footage showed a busload of Palestinian prisoners from Ofer Prison arriving in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where they were met by relatives and cheering supporters. More buses full of Palestinians pulled out of an Israeli prison in the Negev desert heading towards Gaza. At least four of those freed were immediately brought to a hospital for treatment. Among the most prominent to be released is Ahmed Barghouti, 48, a close aide of iconic Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti. Most of the prisoners were arrested in Gaza and will be sent back to the besieged enclave. About 10 will be released in the occupied West Bank, one in occupied East Jerusalem, with the others being sent to Egypt and later to other countries that will accept them. A number of elderly prisoners were among those released including a 70-year-old man. A few looked gaunt and others stern as they stepped off of buses, while some smiled and flashed the victory sign. A number of Palestinians wore their shirts inside out in order to cover messages after the Israel Prison Service made them put on outfits with a Star of David logo that said, 'We will not forget or forgive' in Arabic. Released Palestinian prisoner Amir Abu Radah told Al Jazeera he spent 18 months in Israel's Nafha desert prison where authorities cut water and electricity. 'Our conditions in prison were extremely difficult and no one could bear them. For a year and a half we have not had any means of communication and we were isolated from the world,' Abu Radah said. 'Complete the ceasefire' The three captives in Gaza – identified as American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, Russian-Israeli Alexander Sasha Trufanov, and Argentinian-Israeli Yair Horn – were freed to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross during a brief ceremony in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis. All three were among those taken by Hamas following its October 7 attack on southern Israel. Dekel-Chen, Trufanov and Horn were seen carrying certificates for their release and maps of Palestine. They were transported back to Israel for medical examinations before reuniting with their families. A crowd gathered in Tel Aviv's 'Hostages Square' to watch the exchange, with many carrying Israeli flags and posters with messages including 'Sorry and welcome back' and 'Complete the ceasefire.' With Saturday's handover, the number of captives released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad has reached 25 since the ceasefire began on January 19. Dozens of armed Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters guarded the square where the handover took place. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians, including women, children and the elderly, gathered behind the security cordon trying to witness the release. Al Jazeera's Tarek Abu Azzoum, reporting from the site in Khan Younis, described the release as 'highly coordinated' and 'marked by a strict security protocol and symbolic display of power'. 'What is going to happen next?' Hamas issued a statement after the release saying it was 'a renewed message' to Israel. 'The release of the sixth batch of enemy prisoners confirms there is no way to free them except through negotiations and by adhering to the requirements of the ceasefire agreement,' the group said. Muhanad Seloom of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies told Al Jazeera so far both parties to the ceasefire are trying to stick to the agreement. 'The tough negotiations would be what comes after the first phase. While the focus is on the release of the hostages, the main question should be what is going to happen the next day?' he said. 'What we see now is Hamas sticking to its end of the deal. Israel is more elusive about it, which signals it might not be committed to the second phase.' 'No migration except to Jerusalem' Uri Dromi, a retired Israeli colonel, said, 'every Israeli is glued to their TV screen' watching the handover. 'At the same time, people are looking beyond the present event and asking themselves here what will happen in Gaza the next day,' he told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv. Referring to US President Donald Trump's proposal to remove all Palestinians from Gaza, he added: 'I would hope to see some change in the region – some better future for the people of Gaza. As long as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are pulling the strings there, it is not going to happen.' Trump's proposal to forcibly displace Palestinians has been roundly rejected by Palestinian groups and countries in the region. 'We say to the whole world: there is no migration except to Jerusalem, and this is our response to all the calls for displacement and liquidation launched by Trump and those who support his approach from the forces of colonialism and occupation,' said Hamas.
