Pursuit of two-state solution seen possible with Hamas

A Palestinian national unity government seeking a two-state solution with Israel is possible, even with Hamas, the radical Islamic movement, on board, Mustafa Barghouti, the leader of the National Palestinian Initiative believes.

Dr Barghouti is in Malta to take part in a Euro-Med seminar today called, Transforming Conflict In The Euro-Mediterranean Region.

Dr Barghouti, a candidate for the 2005 Palestinian presidential election, was a co-founder of the Palestinian National Initiative, or Mubadara, whose main objective is the realisation of Palestinian national rights and of a durable, just peace.

He was newly elected to a seat on the Palestinian Legislative Council last January, along with one other member of the Independent Palestine list.

His words yesterday came in the wake of increasing instability for the Hamas government. Just this week, Palestinian security forces blocked the main Gaza Strip intersections, burning tires and snarling traffic to protest the Hamas government's inability to pay their salaries.

"We have been needing a national unity government for the past 25 years, but now it is obvious that both Fatah, as was shown in the past election, and Hamas cannot govern alone," Dr Barghouti told The Times.

But does not the failure of the EU, among others, to legitimise the Hamas government stem precisely from the fact that the movement failed to recognise Israel's right to exist?

To this Dr Barghouti, an advocate of non-violent resistance, replied: "Hamas has its ideological beliefs as do others in Palestine but I don't see the negotiation of a two-state solution as a problem."

But this had to be placed in the context of the region's needs. "We need immediate international intervention," he said.

The current situation is hampering any prospects for peace and reaching a two-state solution, he emphasised. "There is fast expansion of settlements taking place, for instance in the Jordan Valley and elsewhere.

"And what is more the Israelis actually used the media's distraction during the recent war in Lebanon to step up the pace in this regard."

The West Bank, he continued, has been effectively cut in half and the wall has recently grown by two-and-a-half times and is now more than three times the size of the Berlin wall.

"Palestinians are living like prisoners. I feel that many don't realise the reality Palestinians have to deal with and that is what I will be talking about tomorrow (today)," he said.