West Bank Fateh Secretary and Palestinian Legislative Council member Marwan Barghouthi made a call from his Israeli prison cell to armed Palestinian factions, namely Fateh and Hamas, to halt the infighting and the spilling of Palestinian blood. Barghouthi, who is serving several life sentences, has been incarcerated in Israeli prisons since April, 2001.

The Fateh leader called on the Palestinian people to pledge the next few days to endorsing national unity. He called on all factions, forces and individuals to organize and participate in peaceful demonstrations in support of national unity and in condemnation of the current factional violence, which has led to the death and injury of several men, women and children in addition to the acts of vandalism and kidnappings that have taken place in recent months.

Barghouthi, who said he speaks on behalf of all the 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners currently in Israeli jails, called on the leaders of factions to return to the negotiating table and resolve internal disputes peacefully and constructively.

As a last resort, Barghouthi also said the prisoners would go on hunger strike in the next few days if the infighting did not stop and a national unity government was not formed on the basis of the Prisoners (National Conciliation) Document.

“These cowardly weapons that we point at each other serve as a knife in the back of our martyrs, headed by Martyr Yasser Arafat and Martyr Ahmed Yassin and all the rest of the martyrs, prisoners, the wounded and our nation’s warriors,” read Barghouthi’s statement, which was released yesterday.