Barghouti speaks in Belfast despite Israeli restrictions

Leading Palestine spokesperson, Dr Mustafa Barghouti, addressed a packed hall in St Mary's Teacher Training College on Tuesday evening 5 August. Dr Barghouti was not in Belfast to speak on the Palestinian situation on the invite of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign because the Israeli government barred him from leaving Palestine, but the organisers overcame the problem by using a live video link.

Dr Barghouti gave a 20-minute presentation on Palestine - the Way Forward. One of the negotiators at the Madrid peace talks, Dr Barghouti is also co-founder along with Edward Said and Hanaan Ashrawi, of the Palestine National Initiative. He is also a medical doctor and co-founder and President of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees. The event was chaired by Sinn Féin's Bairbre de Brún.

In a lively question and answer session, Dr Barghouti called on people to continue to boycott Israeli goods and to continue to lobby their political leaders to keep pressure on the Israeli government to end its occupation of the Palestinian Territories.

At present the Israeli government has confiscated more Palestinian land to build a so-called security wall around West Bank Palestinian towns and villages. Dr Barghouti says the insistence by the Israeli government on building this wall may mean the end of the 'Road Map to Peace' even before it gets off the ground.