Abdullah Ghaleb Barghouti ( ar, عبد الله البرغوثي, born 1979) is a Palestinian leading commander in

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

' armed wing, the

Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades ( ar, كتائب الشهيد عز الدين القسام, , Battalions of martyr Izz ad-Din al-Qassam; also spelt Izzedine or Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades; often shortened to Al-Qassam Brigades, IQB

, in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. He was also one of the organization's chief bomb makers. Barghouti is currently serving 67 life-term sentences in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i prison.

Early life

Barghouti hails from the Barghouti clan based in the

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusale ...

area of the West Bank. His family is from the town of Beit Rima. Barghouti was born in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

in 1979. He is a relative of Marwan Barghouti.

Hamas

In 1999, Barghouti traveled to the West Bank where he joined the Hamas paramilitary group.McElroy, Damien
Gilad Shalit release: 5 most prominent Palestinian prisoners to be freed
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

.'' 18 October 2011. He is considered by ''

Ynet Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...

'' as Hamas' "engineer", and designed and built weapons for numerous attacks against Israeli civilians. Among the attacks he was involved in was the

Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing A Palestinian terrorist attack on Sbarro, a pizzeria in downtown Jerusalem, took place on 9 August 2001, in which 15 civilians were killed, including 7 children and a pregnant woman, and 130 wounded. Attack At the time of the bombing, the Jeru ...

, the double suicide bombing in the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, the

Café Moment bombing The Café Moment bombing was a Palestinian suicide bombing of a coffee shop in downtown Jerusalem, Israel that killed 11 Israeli civilians and left 54 others wounded. It was carried out on March 9, 2002, during the Second Intifada. The atta ...

, the 2002 Rishon LeZion bombing, the

Hebrew University bombing A terror attack was carried out by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on 31 July 2002 in a cafeteria at the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The attack killed 9 people, including 5 U.S. students, and injured about 1 ...

, the

Allenby Street bus bombing The Allenby Street bus bombing was a suicide bombing that occurred on September 19, 2002 on a Dan bus in the center of Tel Aviv's business district. Six people were killed in the attack and approximately 70 were injured. Hamas claimed responsibili ...

, the Pi Glilot bombing attempt, and an attack on railway tracks in

Lod Lod ( he, לוד, or fully vocalized ; ar, اللد, al-Lidd or ), also known as Lydda ( grc, Λύδδα), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephe ...

in which he personally laid the explosive charge. A total of 66 Israelis were killed and 500 injured in attacks that Barghouti was involved in. In late 2001, Barghouti was arrested by the Preventive Security Forces of the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

on late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's orders over involvement in the Sbarro restaurant bombing. Following a deterioration in relations between the PA and Israel in January 2002,

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

leader Marwan Barghouti lobbied

Jibril Rajoub Jibril Mahmoud Muhammad Rajoub ( ar, جبريل رجوب, born 14 May 1953), also known by his kunya Abu Rami, is a Palestinian political leader, legislator, and former militant. He leads the Palestinian Football Association and the Palestine Ol ...

, chief of the PA security forces, to release Abdullah Barghouti. He returned to Hamas activities.

Imprisonment

Barghouti was arrested by the Israeli Shin Bet security service in March 2003. An Israeli military court sentenced him to 67 life terms plus 5,200 years in prison. The sentence was the longest given out in Israel's history. Barghouti is incarcerated at

Gilboa Prison Gilboa Prison () is a high security prison in northern Israel, less than from the West Bank. It was built in 2004. History On 6 September 2021 it was the scene of the Gilboa Prison break Guard tower Heth (ח׳) in the Gilboa prison, under wh ...

near

Beit She'an Beit She'an ( he, בֵּית שְׁאָן '), also Beth-shean, formerly Beisan ( ar, بيسان ), is a town in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below se ...

. He is held in solitary confinement and is not allowed family visits. The Israeli government refused to release Barghouti as part of the 2011

Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange The Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange (; ), also known as "Wafa al-Ahrar" (''"Faithful to the free"''), followed a 2011 agreement between Israel and Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 prisoners — almost all Palest ...

. The Palestinian Authority has paid Barghouti a pension throughout his imprisonment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barghouti, Abdullah 1979 births Living people Hamas military members Palestinian people imprisoned by Israel Palestinian novelists Palestinian short story writers People from Bani Zeid al-Gharbia