Barghouthi: Gaza withdrawal proves resistance worked

Marwan Barghouthi, the secretary of the Fatah movement in the West Bank, who has been in detention in Israel, "commended the victory of the Palestinian resistance which forced Israel to withdraw from Gaza."

Barghouthi was detained in the spring of 2003 and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004. He is considered one of the main leaders of the Palestinian Intifada. He did not hide his support to armed struggle with reservations about operations against civilians inside Israel.

Barghouthi said from Hdarim prison in a statement that "this victory would not have been achieved without the vast people's participation in the resistance and the uprising, and the fruit of the blood of thousands of Palestinian martyrs and hundreds of thousands of wounded and prisoners." He stressed that this victory proves that "the Intifada and the resistance are the shortest way to end occupation and win victory and independence."

He considered that the destruction of Ghoushe Katif is a first step towards the collapse of the settlement ideology as whole. He urged the Palestinians to organize demonstrations and marches celebrating full withdrawal, and the formation of citizen's movement "to continue militant struggle against the racist wall, the settlement and the Judaizing of Jerusalem."