A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Free Barghouti Now?

Bradley Burston's column in Ha'aretz: if Bibi Netanyahu wants to hold power forever, Free Barghouti Now. He won't do it, of course — Bibi doesn't take Ha'aretz' advice — but as previously noted here, a freed Marwan Barghouti is probably the only candidate for the Palestinian Presidency who might win both the West Bank and, if Hamas agrees to participate, Gaza. Hamas might have no choice if the popular groundswell were great enough.

But if Bibi wanted to break the logjam (I personally do not think he does, but some disagree), freeing Barghouti would be a game-changer.

1 comment:

David Mack said...

Borrowing from Juan Cole's blog, here is a Michael Dunn learned equivalent on Yemen matters:

Another antidote to Yemen Hysteria: Waq al-Waq.

So nice to learn context from real experts.