Religion Islam | Name Abdullah Barghouti | |
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Full Name Abdullah Iyad Barghouti Similar People Marwan Barghouti, Ahlam Tamimi, Yahya Ayyash, Izz ad‑Din al‑Qassam, Ahmad Sa'adat | ||
Nationality Palestinian, Jordanian | ||
Abdullah Ghaleb Barghouti (Arabic: عبد الله البرغوثي, born 1979) is a Palestinian leading commander in Hamas' armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in the West Bank. He was also one of the organization's chief bomb makers. Barghouti is currently serving 67 life-term sentences in Israeli prison.
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Early life
Barghouti hails from the Barghouti clan based in the Ramallah area of the West Bank. His family is from the town of Beit Rima. Barghouti was born in Kuwait in 1979. Barghouti is a relative of Marwan Barghouti.
Hamas
In 1999, Barghouti traveled to the West Bank where he joined the Hamas paramilitary group. He is considered by YNet as Hamas' "engineer".
Arrest
In late 2001, Barghouti was arrested by the Preventive Security Forces of the Palestinian Authority on late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's orders for alleged involvement in the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing.
Following a deterioration in relations between the PA and Israel in January 2002, Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti lobbied Jibril Rajoub, chief of the PA security forces, to release Abdullah Barghouti. Barghouti allegedly planned and built the weapons for multiple attacks against Israeli civilians, including the Bus 4 line suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, and further attacks in Rishon LeZion, Zion Square and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He was later arrested by Israel's Shin Bet in March 2003. In 2004, he was sentenced to 67 life-terms in prison for the deaths of 66 Israelis. The sentence was the longest given out in Israel's history. He is currently in solitary confinement and is refused family visits.
The Israeli government refused to release Barghouti as part of the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.