Bashir Barghuthi ( ar, بشير البرغوثي, 1931–2000) was a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

Communist leader and journalist.

Background

Barghouti was born in the village of

Dayr Ghassana Bani Zeid ( ar, بني زيد) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the north-central West Bank, located northwest of Ramallah, about 45 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem and about southwest of Salfit. A town of o ...

in the

Ramallah Subdistrict Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jeru ...

. He earned a BA degree in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

from the

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning progr ...

in 1956.

Career

Living in exile in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

, he founded the central organ of the

Jordanian Communist Party The Jordanian Communist Party (JCP; ar, الحزب الشیوعی الاردنی, ''al-Hizb al-Shuyu'i al-Urduni'') is a communist party in Jordan, founded in 1948. Its current general secretary is Dr. Munir Hamarana. It publishes ''al-Jamahir' ...

''al-Jamahir'' (The Masses) and joined the

General Union of Palestinian Students The General Union of Palestine Students ( ar, الإتحاد العام لطلبة فلسطين) (GUPS) is an organization run by Palestinian students since the early 1920s. It is generally considered one of the first Palestinian institutions star ...

(GUPS). In 1957 the paper was closed by Jordanian authorities, and Barghouti was incarcerated the Al-Jaffar prison. When freed in 1965, he was refused a journalist license by the Jordanian government, but continued to write under an assumed name. After 1967 he opposed the right of king

Hussein of Jordan Hussein bin Talal ( ar, الحسين بن طلال, ''Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṭalāl''; 14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 11 August 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of ...

to speak on behalf of Palestinians. In 1974 he returned to the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

via

family reunification Family reunification is a recognized reason for immigration in many countries because of the presence of one or more family members in a certain country, therefore, enables the rest of the divided family or only specific members of the family to e ...

, and became a leading figure of the Jordanian Communist Party there. He founded the newspaper ''al-Fajr'' (Dawn), which he edited from 1975 to 1977. In February 1977 there was a political rift between him and

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the Confederation, confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organizati ...

, and Barghouti left his editorship of ''al-Fajr''. In February 1978 he founded the newspaper ''al-Tali'a'' (The Vanguard) in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. Barghouti was put in house arrest by the Israelis from August 1980 – 1982. In 1982 the JCP branches in the West Bank were converted into the Palestinian Communist Party. Barghouti became the General Secretary of PCP. In 1987, after PCP having joined the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and st ...

, Barghouti was inducted into the PLO Executive Committee. Barghouti was an important figure during the

First Palestinian Intifada The First Intifada, or First Palestinian Intifada (also known simply as the intifada or intifadah),The word ''intifada'' () is an Arabic word meaning "uprising". Its strict Arabic transliteration is '. was a sustained series of Palestinian p ...

, and he formed the first popular committee. He was able to establish an agreement between Fatah and

PFLP The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary soci ...

. He was a key figure during the

Oslo peace process The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993;

. In June 1996 he was appointed Minister of Industry in the first

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

government. In 1997 he suffered a severe stroke. He was then appointed Minister of State (a largely symbolic position). Barghouti died on September 9, 2000.

References

External links

A biography

1931 births 2000 deaths Palestine Liberation Organization members Jordanian Communist Party politicians Palestinian People's Party politicians Palestinian journalists State ministers of Palestine People from Bani Zeid al-Gharbia 20th-century journalists Palestinian people imprisoned by Jordan {{Palestine-politician-stub