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Global campaign launched to free jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti
An international campaign to free popular Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who has been jailed in Israel since 2002, is gathering pace, with more than 200 A-listers, from Margaret Atwood to Javier Bardem, lending their support.
“We express our grave concern at the continuing imprisonment of Marwan Barghouti, his violent mistreatment and denial of legal rights whilst imprisoned,” said an open letter published on Wednesday, calling on the United Nations and governments to take action.
Most of the high-profile signatories were already active in efforts to bring an end to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, but the new letter is part of an international “Free Marwan” campaign launched by Barghouti’s family earlier this week.
Barghouti, a senior leader of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group, who is viewed by many as Palestine’s Nelson Mandela, is serving five life sentences in Israeli prisons on alleged charges related to attacks during the second Intifada, which lasted from 2000 to 2005.
A mural depicting Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, with a message reading ‘See you soon’ in Arabic on Israel’s separation wall in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank
UNRWA chief says dismantling agency will not address refugee status of Palestinians
Philippe Lazzarini has said the absence of a “political solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is what determines the protracted status of Palestinians as refugees.
Israel has been conducting a campaign against the UN agency for Palestinians, which was created with a temporary mandate after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 to serve approximately 750,000 Palestinians displaced by the war. Israel has banned the UNRWA, which enshrines the right of Palestinian refugees to return home, and US President Donald Trump has cut vital funds.
Lazzarini said, “Dismantling UNRWA will not address the refugee status of Palestinians. Investing in peace is the answer to end what was meant to be a temporary situation.”
