Barghouti, a senior figure in Fatah, became politically active as a teenager. His early involvement in student movements in the West Bank and Gaza led to his first arrest in 1978. During his imprisonment, he learned Hebrew and completed his secondary schooling.
After his release, he returned to the West Bank and pursued a degree in history and political science. Tensions erupted into the First Intifada after an Israeli military truck collided with a Palestinian vehicle in Gaza’s Jabalya refugee camp, killing four workers. Protests spread rapidly, and Barghouti emerged as a key organiser.
He was arrested and later exiled to Jordan. Throughout this period, Israel faced international criticism for the use of excessive force. Amnesty International documented cases of unlawful killings at demonstrations and checkpoints.
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Palestinians, for the most part, were unarmed, relying on mass civil protest that occasionally involved stone-throwing. The uprising lasted six years. Barghouti returned to the West Bank in 1994 following the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
The agreements recognised the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and acknowledged Israel’s right to exist. In theory, they were meant to establish a five-year interim framework leading to peace. It was also during this period that many analysts began questioning the underlying logic of the Oslo framework.
International law prioritises the rights of people, not the permanence of political structures. States gain legitimacy through protecting human rights, not through asserting metaphysical rights to exist. This tension — between a process centred on state recognition and a reality defined by ongoing occupation — shaped Barghouti’s growing political influence.
Israel attempted to assassinate him and, in 2002, arrested him in Ramallah. An Israeli court later convicted him of involvement in attacks that killed 26 people and sentenced him to five consecutive life terms. Barghouti denied targeting civilians but expressed support for armed resistance against military occupation — a form of resistance recognised under international law.
Even behind bars, Barghouti’s influence only grew. He was elected to Fatah’s Central Committee in 2009 and, in 2017, led a mass 43-day hunger strike calling attention to the conditions of Palestinian prisoners.
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