Bashir Barghouti

Bashir Barghuthi
Minister of Industry of the Palestinian National Authority
In office June 1996 – 1997
General Secretary of the Palestinian Communist Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 1982
Personal details
Born	1931 Dayr Ghassana, Mandatory Palestine
Died	September 9, 2000
Nationality	Palestinian
Political party	Palestinian Communist Party
Other political affiliations	Palestinian People's Party Jordanian Communist Party National Liberation League in Palestine
Alma mater	American University in Cairo
Profession	Journalist and Communist Leader

Bashir Barghuthi (Arabic: بشير البرغوثي, 1931–2000) was a Palestinian Communist leader and journalist.

Background

Barghouti was born in the village of Dayr Ghassana in the Ramallah Subdistrict.

Career

Living in Jordan, he founded the central organ of the Jordanian Communist Party al-Jamahir (The Masses) and joined the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS). In 1957 the paper was closed by Jordanian authorities, and Barghouti was incarcerated the Al-Jaffar prison. When freed in 1965, he was refused a journalist license by the Jordanian government, but continued to write under an assumed name. After 1967 he opposed the right of king Hussein of Jordan to speak on behalf of Palestinians.

In 1974 he returned to the West Bank via family reunification, and became a figure of the Jordanian Communist Party there. He founded the newspaper al-Fajr (Dawn), which he edited from 1975 to 1977. In February 1977 there was a political rift between him and Fatah, and Barghouti left his editorship of al-Fajr. In February 1978 he founded the newspaper al-Tali'a (The Vanguard) in Jerusalem.

Barghouti was put in house arrest by the Israelis from August 1980 – 1982. In 1982 the JCP branches in the West Bank were converted into the Palestinian Communist Party. Barghouti became the General Secretary of PCP.

In 1987, after PCP having joined the Palestine Liberation Organization, Barghouti was inducted into the PLO Executive Committee. Barghouti was a figure during the First Palestinian Intifada. He was a figure during the Oslo peace process. In June 1996 he was appointed Minister of Industry in the first Palestinian National Authority government. In 1997 he suffered a severe stroke. He was then appointed Minister of State (a largely symbolic position).

Barghouti died on September 9, 2000.

See also

• Atef Adwan

External links

• A biography
• A biography