Real News Network: The Facts On The Ground In Palestine
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2008
12:10 PM
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CONTACT: Real News Network
Chantal Flores, 416-916-5202
Email: smcommunications@therealnews.com |
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The Facts On The Ground In Palestine
Palestinian MP Mustafa Barghouti says Palestinians have already compromised a compromise
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WASHINGTON - July 29 - Senator Barack Obama, on his world tour, spent less than an hour in Palestine compared to 32 hours in Israel. Very few people know the facts on the ground in Palestine as well as Mustafa Barghouti. A member of Parliament and the leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, a reformist alternative to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, Barghouti spoke to the Real News about Obama's visit and the facts on the ground in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"I found it astonishing that he [Obama] spoke so well about the issue of walls in Berlin where the wall is gone. He should've said this while he was visiting Israel and Palestine to refer to the wall that we have in Palestine that is three times the length of the Berlin wall and twice as high as Berlin wall is and very drastic in its effect on Palestinian population." Barghouti also said that Obama was not fair with the distribution of time and should have attempted to visit a Palestinian community or a refugee camp. Obama, according to the Palestinian PM, also failed to say that Jerusalem should also be the capital of Palestine.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that there won't be an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before the end of the year because of Jerusalem. Barghouti explained that, according to the United Nation resolutions of 1947, "the recognition of Israel as a state was based on allowing Palestinians to have a Palestinian state in the same land on 45 per cent." In 1998, Palestinians accepted 23 percent, only half of what they should have had. "This is a great sacrifice. It's a great concession. We accepted that compromise because we want to end this conflict," Barghouti said. "We the Palestinians are resilient people. We will never accept to live as slaves of occupation or apartheid even if it takes 100 years."
Barghouti says that Israeli leaders are representing the wrong narrative about reality. For instance, they say that they left Gaza. "You cannot say that they left Gaza while they are blocking the passage between Gaza and Egypt. They are blocking the supplies to Gaza from every direction. They are not allowing even fishermen to go inside the sea and fish. They have their planes fly over Gaza around the clock and scan every meter there with missiles in these planes that can shoot anybody. Gaza is still under occupation. That's a myth they have spread."
In addition, Barghouti says that the Israeli narrative is dominating in the media. He says the press should be fair when representing both sides. "It is totally unacceptable that if something happens to an Israeli it will be all over the press. But if something happens to hundred Palestinians nothing will be heard about. That's not fair." He adds, "We are all equal human beings and we are entitled to equal rights and equal duties."
Watch the interview on The Real News Network: http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=74&jumival=183
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