Israeli authorities have freed a group of 26 Palestinian prisoners as part of a US-brokered agreement to resume direct peace talks. The prisoners committed murder or attempted murder and have served 19 to 28 years.
The Palestinian minister for prisoner affairs, Issa Qaraqai, dismissed the complaints of Israeli family members of people killed in these murders, saying: “Israel is a murderous state and these prisoners are freedom fighters.” I imagine Mr. Qaraqai, whose first name is Arabic for Jesus, sees these terrorists as justified by the charges of racism recently leveled at Israel by the American Studies Association.
What is not clear as I write this is whether Israel released or will release Marwan Barghouti. Barghouti was tried and convicted in Israel as a terrorist, accused of directing suicide bombings, against civilian and military targets. His sentence was five life sentences. Despite being in prison, Barghouti has been active in Palestinian politics and is seen as a potential Mandela .. a peace maker who could sell peace to irredentists like those in Hamas or lace curtain liberals like my friends at the American Studies Association.
That said, support from American academics could be valuable if Mr. Barghouti, as bad as his crimes may have been, somehow offered the kind of rationalism that typified Nelson Mandela. One can hope!
“If Israel is really interested in a Palestinian partner for a two-state solution, they will release Marwan Barghouti,” says Mahdi Abdel Hadi, director of the Palestinian Academic Society For the Study of International Affairs in Jerusalem.