LAUREN FRAYER, HOST:
Palestinian politics is in crisis. The leadership in the West Bank represented by the Palestinian Authority is deeply unpopular. Elections haven't been held in almost 20 years when Hamas won the last ones. Both the Palestinian Authority and President Trump say they see no role for that group in Gaza's future governance. As we start the new year, there is a unifying political figure who used to be part of the Palestinian Authority and remains popular today. But he's in Israeli prison and has been for the last 23 years. Marwan Barghouti said this while in Israeli court in 2004.
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MARWAN BARGHOUTI: Security will be achieved by one way, by one way, by peace. And peace will be achieved by the end of the occupation.
FRAYER: He's serving five life sentences plus 40 years for what Israel says was murder and terrorism, which Barghouti denies. He's now 66 years old, and Israel refused to include his name in any hostage exchange deals. And we have his son, Arab Barghouti, with us on the show. Welcome.
ARAB BARGHOUTI: Thank you so much for having me.
FRAYER: How is your father doing right now?
A BARGHOUTI: In the last two years, as you know, the whole of the Palestinian people have gone through, like, the collective punishment policy of the Israeli government, and I think that the political prisoners were one of the biggest targets after our people of Gaza, of course. My father was targeted in the last two years. He was sent right after October 7 to solitary confinement, even though obviously he has nothing to do with it. Because of his influence and his impact, they wanted to silence him. He was denied from any family visitation. He was only visited a few times by his lawyer.
FRAYER: And have - when was the last time you were able to visit him?
A BARGHOUTI: I haven't been able to see my father in more than three years. None of the family members has been able to see him in the last three years, which tells you that this has been happening since before October 7, and I haven't been able to hug my father in 24 years. And it's very important to understand that I represent thousands of families who are going through the same suffering and don't get talked about enough.
FRAYER: Your father is an advocate for a two-state solution. He has said he's willing to recognize Israel next to an independent Palestinian state. He's been compared to Nelson Mandela. How do you feel about that comparison? And how does he?
A BARGHOUTI: Well, personally, it makes me feel proud. Nelson Mandela is not only my role model, but a role model to all of the Palestinian people and all of the free people around the world. But there are differences between our struggle and the South African struggle. We share having an apartheid regime, but at the same time, they haven't been bombarded, killed at the rate that we've been killed and the violence that we face as Palestinians.
FRAYER: The two-state solution used to be Israeli policy. It is not something that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently pushing for. How would your father negotiate that?
A BARGHOUTI: You know, you're dealing with an Israeli government that doesn't want peace. And that's exactly where I think the international community - and when I say the international community, obviously, it's basically the U.S. and a few other countries, but especially the U.S. - if they put the right pressure on the Israeli government, we will get to a point where they have to come and negotiate a political settlement 'cause there is no way out.
FRAYER: Among Palestinian Authority figures, polls show that your father has support from Palestinians of all different factions, unlike the current leadership in the West Bank. If your father does get released from prison, do you think he will take that step and enter political life again?
A BARGHOUTI: What I can tell you is that my father was planning to run for the presidential elections that were supposed to happen in 2021, but then they got canceled. I do think that we as Palestinians, in order to renew the political life, the political system, we have to have general elections as soon as possible. You're talking about a political system that has been dysfunctional for almost two decades. If you're 35 or under in Palestine, you've never voted before. That's wrong. We need youth participation, more women in power, having progressive ideas and original ideas in order for us to build the state that we all dream of and fulfill the dream that my father has always talked about.
FRAYER: I want to ask you, Arab, about you. You are a life coach. You grew up with a father behind bars on terrorism charges. How has that shaped you and your life choices?
A BARGHOUTI: Well, to be honest with you, I think that this is not part of my life. This is my whole life. I grew up in the West Bank, and the only normal lives I had with my family was between the '94, which is the Oslo Accords, when as a family, we came back from Jordan, where my father was exiled and not allowed to be in Palestine. And then until when the second intifada broke. You know, as a kid who was 11, 12, and the assassination attempts of my father and the violence in Ramallah and the bombardment and all of that, of course, impacted me. At the beginning, I had some resentment towards the Palestinian cause because in my opinion, as a kid, I thought that it took away my dad, and that was something hard to go through.
But then when I grew up, I learned more about my father. I visited him in prison, which was rare, but at least I could see him, have conversations with him. And when I understood the Palestinian cause, when I understood my father's personality and why he chose this path, my respect to him grew even more, and I understood that it's a noble cause. He's sacrificing for his people. He's sacrificing for a just cause. And this is something that I truly admire. And now I have a responsibility to represent him, to help the international campaign for his release as soon as possible.
FRAYER: That's Arab Barghouti, son of Marwan Barghouti, a prominent Palestinian leader who is currently in Israeli prison. Thank you.
A BARGHOUTI: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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