WASHINGTON — “President Barack Obama’s Cairo speech generated excitement among Palestinians.” That was part of the message Dr. Mustafa Barghouti expressed when he spoke on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC early last week. “Finally, we have a president that recognizes the right for Palestinian dignity and equal opportunity,” he said.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti speaks on Capitol Hill.

The activist and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council was in Washington to offer insights on specific issues and to warn that Obama may be the last American president to see a two-state solution as possible. He is optimistic about this administration and called for it to bring back to life the peace process. It must, however, lead to a final status solution and not just more process.
Barghouti is a long-time community leader who founded and led medical organizations and more recently became involved in electoral politics, running for president in 2005 and then the legislature in 2006. He was successful in the latter. He served as the minister of information during the brief 2007 Palestinian unity government that brought together Hamas and Fatah.

Barghouti gained visibility in the United States during Israel’s bombardment and invasion into Gaza starting in late December and continuing through most of January. He was a consistent voice on major American networks and in newspapers here, presenting events from a Palestinian perspective. His talk in Congress attracted roughly 50 congressional staffers, and others from the many think tanks and institutes that dot the city. It was organized by the Muslim Public Affairs Council as part of a speaking tour. He also presented at several community and interfaith forums in Southern California. There he stressed the role that Americans can play in “ending the apartheid state of Israel and establishing a sovereign independent Palestine.” MPAC considered his perspective important and relevant given the recent declarations by President Obama and his administration to jumpstart talks towards a two-state solution. “In light of President Obama’s message to the Muslim world last week, Dr. Barghouti’s message served as an exceptional and timely opportunity to address obstacles and challenges to peace in the Middle East,” said MPAC’s Government Relations Director, Safiya Ghori. “On the hill, Dr. Barghouti stressed the centrality of the plight of the Palestinians to regional stability. He thinks the Obama administration gets it.” As he wrote in an oped last week in the Chicago Tribune, Obama “articulated an understanding of the roots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that we have not heard from previous American presidents.”

Dr. Barghouti also took on criticisms among Palestinians that President Obama’s references in Cairo to the Holocaust were intended to justify Israel’s oppressive occupation. He told the crowd that they should understand that the suffering of one does not negate the other. In terms of policy, Dr. Barghouti wants to see more than a settlement freeze. He called Obama’s policy on settlements “clear, firm and correct.” Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, however, is not committed to freezing settlement growth. By removing “outposts” and asking only for “natural growth,” he wants to give the appearance of complying with American policy and international law. The settlements themselves already contravene international law, he pointed out. He also argued that Israel was hypocritical by seeking natural growth for settlements but proscribing and restricting natural growth among Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

Non-violent action, according to the doctor, is part of his work with the Palestinian National Initiative. Although President Obama spoke of non-violent resistance in his Cairo speech, Dr. Barghouthi estimated that 90-95% of Palestinian resistance is non-violent.”He spoke about the non-violent protests in Ni’lin and Bi’lin against the apartheid wall. They are repressed brutally by the Israeli military regularly, leading often to Palestinian casualties. Still, he argued, non-violence was the Palestinians’ best method for promoting change in Israel’s “apartheid state” structure.”

Another important topic was the status of the unity negotiations between Hamas and Fatah. He announced that four of the six reconciliation and unity committees in Cairo had reached draft agreements.

He also spoke on the need for Palestinians to participate in regular, successive elections, as precursors to a viable, democratic state. Palestinians have built a vibrant civil society, a fact often ignored in American political discourse. Dr. Barghouthi sought to inspire an American re-commitment to bringing about a Palestinian state. He was worried about the willingness of the international community and America to go the distance. At some point, however, they will have to say, “enough is enough.”