Arab Barghouti tells Al Jazeera that Israel aims to ‘silence’ his father following reports of Israeli guards assaulting him last month.
Arab Barghouti, son of the well-known Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti, has expressed deep concern for his father’s safety while imprisoned in Israel, citing eyewitness accounts of a recent beating by prison guards.
In a conversation with Al Jazeera on Thursday, Arab accused Israeli authorities of deliberately targeting his father due to his influential role as a unifying leader among Palestinians.
“We are genuinely worried about my father’s life,” Arab stated from Ramallah, located in the occupied West Bank.
Earlier this week, the family shared with media outlets testimonies from Palestinian detainees who were released under the Gaza ceasefire agreement, revealing that Barghouti was physically assaulted by guards in mid-September during a transfer between two Israeli detention centers.
Arab revealed to Al Jazeera that this incident marks the fourth time since the outbreak of Israel’s conflict with Gaza in October 2023 that his father has suffered violence while in custody.
“They are deliberately targeting him,” Arab explained, emphasizing that Israel views his father as a significant threat because of his capacity to unite Palestinians.
Marwan Barghouti is a leading figure within Fatah, the dominant Palestinian political party that controls the Palestinian Authority (PA), which administers parts of the occupied West Bank. He has been incarcerated in Israel since the early 2000s.
Barghouti is currently serving five life sentences plus an additional 40 years on charges of murder and attempted murder, charges he has consistently rejected.
A May poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research identified Barghouti as the most favored Palestinian leader, surpassing Hamas official Khaled Meshaal and PA President Mahmoud Abbas in popularity.
Palestinians had demanded Barghouti’s release as part of the recent ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, but Israel declined to include him in the prisoner release.
Under the agreement, Israel freed 250 Palestinians serving life sentences, some of whom were exiled abroad, and released approximately 1,700 detainees who had been held in Gaza and transferred to Israeli prisons during the Gaza conflict.
One of the freed prisoners, Mohammad al-Ardah, told Al Jazeera Arabic that Israeli forces routinely conducted “brutal” raids in prisons, inflicting severe beatings on Palestinian inmates.
“The latest information we received about the esteemed leader Marwan Barghouti is that three of his ribs were broken,” al-Ardah reported.
Israeli officials have denied the allegations of abuse in September, with the Israel Prison Service telling BBC News that it “operates within the law, ensuring the safety and health of all prisoners.”
However, Arab Barghouti dismissed these denials, stating that Israeli authorities lack credibility.
He also referenced a video from August showing far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatening Barghouti in prison, which he cited as further proof of the Israeli government’s intent to suppress his father’s influence.
“We saw Ben-Gvir show him an image of an electric chair on his phone, saying, ‘This is your fate’ … If that isn’t a direct threat to his life, I don’t know what is,” Arab told Al Jazeera.
Additionally, Arab revealed that the family’s repeated requests for international lawyers and the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit Barghouti in prison have been consistently denied by Israeli authorities.
“They perceive him as a threat because he advocates for stability, seeks to break the cycle of violence, and promotes a unified Palestinian vision accepted by all Palestinians and the international community,” Arab explained.
“Israel understands what my father symbolizes, and they reject it. They do not want a partner committed to peace.”
