Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi on Monday criticized the UN resolution submitted to the Security Council by the PLO, urging the Palestinian leadership to reword the proposal.

In a letter received by Ma’an from jail, Barghouthi said the UN resolution is an “unjustified fallback which will have a very negative impact on the Palestinian position.”

The senior Fatah leader said he has always urged the leadership to take the question of Palestine to the UN to obtain a security council resolution, but any proposal must be in-line with inalienable national principles.

Barghouthi urged the leadership to comprehensively revise the wording of the draft resolution to focus on the major issues of settlement expansion, Jerusalem, prisoners, and the blockade on Gaza.

Any talk of land swaps will weaken the Palestinian right to self-determination and a sovereign state on land occupied in 1967, he added, noting that such a measure would be used to legalize settlement building.

The PA must also confirm that settlements are illegal, war crimes, and must be removed.

The leadership must also demand that East Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Palestine and insist on the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their former homes in Israel, in line with UN General Assembly resolution 194.

The popular leader also criticized the draft resolution for not including the issue of Palestinian detainees.

“Though the issue of prisoners isn’t part of the final status core issues, it should be confirmed in any resolution that freeing all prisoners is an absolute right and a precondition for peace.”

The draft resolution should also include an immediate demand to end the “crippling siege” imposed on Gaza, especially after the “massacres” committed against the Palestinian people this summer.

“We must stop negotiating with ourselves uselessly,” he added.

Barghouthi is serving five life sentences for alleged involvement in attacks on Israeli targets.

A senior figure within the Fatah, Barghouthi was arrested in 2002 and sentenced two years later.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)