Protest erupts in Ramallah in support of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti
Protesters on Tuesday gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah in support of imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti.
Demonstrators took to the streets after far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was filmed berating and confronting Barghouti in jail.
In the video shared on X on Friday, Barghouti appears older and gaunt, in the first images of him to be seen in years.
Itamar Ben-Gvir is heard saying Israel will confront anyone who acts against the country. "Anyone who messes with the people of Israel, anyone who murders our children, anyone who murders our women, we will wipe them out", Ben-Gvir said in the footage.
It remained unclear when the video was filmed. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is known for staging provocative encounters with Palestinians.
Barghouti's wife Fadwa Barghouti called the video "shocking" as well as "painful and hearbreaking." Fadwa Barghouti, who is also a Palestinian lawyer, said she "couldn't even recognise" her husband at first glance.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday condemned Ben-Gvir's threats against Barghouti as "unacceptable."
“The minister's behaviour and the publication of the footage constitute an attack on Barghouthi’s dignity", said OHCHR spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan in a press briefing in Geneva.
Barghouti, who is known as the "Palestinian Nelson Mandela", was arrested in 2002 for his alleged involvement in anti-Israeli attacks during the Second Intifada. He was convicted in 2004 and is currently serving five life sentences.
Barghouti, now in his mid-60s, was a senior leader in President Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah movement during the intifada.
Polls consistently show he is the most popular Palestinian leader. Many Palestinians see him as a natural successor to the aging and unpopular leader of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel considers him a terrorist and has shown no sign it would release him.
"It should serve as a warning and a red flag for the Palestinian people and all international institutions: there are still acts of liquidation taking place inside Israeli prisons, posing a serious threat to the lives of Palestinian detainees", said Fadwa Barghouti in reaction to the recent video.
Israeli officials say they have reduced the conditions under which Palestinians are held to the bare minimum allowed under Israeli and international law.
Many detainees released as part of ceasefire deals in Gaza earlier this year had appeared gaunt and ill, and some were taken for immediate medical treatment.