Israeli PM slams Fatah for elevating resistance icon

By Anees Barghouti

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed the Fatah movement -- which leads the Palestinian Authority -- for its recent decision to elect jailed Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti to a senior a position within the movement.

"Marwan is a leader of a terrorist organization that encouraged and led terror attacks that killed and wounded dozens of innocent Israelis," Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office Tuesday.

"By electing him, Fatah is no longer satisfied with incitement in schools and naming streets and squares after murderers -- it is also placing them in high leadership roles," the prime minister added.

An icon of the Palestinian resistance, Barghouti -- who has languished in an Israeli jail for more than a decade -- won a seat on Fatah’s authoritative Central Committee at the movement’s recently-concluded general congress.

Barghouti played leading roles in both the first and second Palestinian Intifadas (uprisings) -- in 1987 and 2000 respectively -- against the Israeli occupation.

In 2002, Barghouti was arrested by Israel and slapped with five consecutive life sentences for his alleged involvement in several attacks on Israelis.