Presidential Candidate Mustafa Barghouti
Press conference Friday morning 7 January in East Jerusalem. Gretta Duisenberg and Julian Bakker attended the conference. The elections will be held on Sunday 9 January.
This was Mustafa’s last press conference since starting his campaign on November 29. Mustafa Barghouti reiterated that Jerusalem was and shall remain the capital of Palestina. He has collected from all Palestinian regions the voices of concern about unemployment, inability to get medical treatment, etc. and the severe sufferings from the occupation by Israel. Mustafa realizes that a new leadership is needed. Internationally, a new and definite peace agreement must be signed, no more interim agreements which were not adhered to and from which the Palestinian people have suffered so much. A comprehensive international peace conference must be held.
[img]http://www.transfloor.nl/uploads/img41efb5d0de2c2.jpg[/img]
Mr Barghouti is proud that 3 major goals are being achieved during his campaign: (a) democratic procedures and trend are being established, (b) a democratic coalition is formed with important groups of society, labor, social and other organizations participating, (c) an effective leadership and leader are ready now to take over the Palestinian government.
If elected, Mustafa Barghouti will immediately call for elections of the members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, dissolve the cabinet and replace it by a cabinet of national unity, ask the best available legal advisers to draw up a new constitutional framework for the Palestinian State, rewrite the country’s budget, and initiate an international peace conference on the future of Palestina. Currently, the Palestinians are kept as a sheep in a cage with a tiger and asked to negotiate with the tiger.
In various election districts, Mustafa is in close race with Abu Mazen, he feels he is likely to win the elections. Abu Mazen has adapted his position on the refugee and other important issues to that of Mustafa. Mustafa has twice invited Abu Mazen for an open television debate which was refused by Abu Mazen.
Mustafa’s campaign has been severely hampered by the Israeli occupation forces, he has been stopped 7 times at checkpoints for interrogation, and on one occasion was beaten and kept lying on the ground for two hours. On Wednesday, January 5 the Erez border to cross the Gaza strip was closed for 48 hours blocking the movements of all Palestinians into and out of Gaza. The closure also prevented Mustafa Barghouti from leaving Gaza to campaign in the West Bank until late evening. In the West Bank 15,000 Palestinians in the Jenin district who are living as prisoners between the Apartheid Wall and the Green Line, did not get any freedom of movement to attend meetings for the campaign. The same happened in the Nablus district: the system of checkpoints and the constant military incursions make it impossible for the Nablus inhabitants to undertake campaign activities.
Within two hours after the press conference on Friday, 7 January, at noon in the presence of press and many others, Mustafa was arrested outside the wall of old Jerusalem, on allegations by the Israeli police that he did not have the right permit for campaigning in Jerusalem. By 3 pm Friday afternoon his fate was still unknown.
From Jerusalem, Friday 7 January 3 pm.
Gretta Duisenberg and Julian Bakker
