Mustafa Barghouti (also often written Mustafa Barghouthi; born 1954) is a Palestinian democracy activist and a candidate for presidency of the Palestinian National Authority in 2005.

Barghouti was born in Bait Rima near Ramallah. The Barghoutis are a large extended family in Ramallah, whose members include Marwan Barghouti, a cousin to Mustafa. Mustafa Barghouti is a medical doctor, trained in the former Soviet Union and Jerusalem. He also received a degree in management from Stanford University in the United States. He currently lives in Ramallah.

In 1979, Barghouti founded the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees , a non-governmental organization which provides health care and related services in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He continues to serve as the Union's president. In 1989, Barghouti was one of the founders of the Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute , a think-tank representing an alliance of 90 Palestinian community organizations.

In 1991, Barghouti was a delegate to the Madrid Conference, which was held with the aim of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the First Intifada. In 1996, he ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for a legislative seat in the first Palestinian Authority elections. In June 2002, Barghouti, Haidar Abdel-Shafi , Ibrahim Dakak , and Edward Said established the Palestinian National Initiative (al-Mubadara), an attempt to build a reformist, inclusive alternative to both the established Palestinian National Organization and to Islamic militant groups such as Hamas. Barghouti currently serves as the Initiative's secretary.

Barghouti has consistenly criticized the PLO and Palestinian Authority for corruption. He supports non-violent resistance as the most effective means of overcoming Israeli occupation. According to a Reuters report, Bargouti "supports peace with Israel based on two states with a Palestinian state in all territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, a capital in Arab East Jerusalem and rights for refugees."[1] It is not clear whether the remedies Barghouti supports for the refugee problem extends to a full-fledged right of return.

In a 1996 incident, Barghouti was shot by soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces while serving as a medic. On January 3, 2003, he was arrested following an international press conference in East Jerusalem, on charges of disturbing the peace and entering the city illegally. During his detention, Barghouti was interrogated and suffered a broken knee, which, according to his account, was inflicted by blows from a rifle butt; he also reported that he received head injuries. He was released several days later.

Barghouti was a candidate in the election for Palestinian Authority president, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Yasser Arafat. In the announcement, Barghouti declared, "I will demand total and complete reform, fight any form of corruption, mismanagement, and consolidate the rule of law." [2]. He came second, receiving 19.8% of the vote.

External links

• Mustafa Barghouti's biography from the Palestine Monitor , an internet publication of the Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute
• A biography of Mustafa Barghouti
• The Palestinian National Initiative, English page