The Arab League has welcomed a call by US Representative Ro Khanna for the release of Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti.
In a statement issued by its Palestine and Occupied Arab Territories department, the League said Khanna’s appeal was consistent with the Arab position that the issue of prisoners is central to joint Arab action.
The League said the release of Barghouti and all Palestinian and Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails was a political and humanitarian demand in its own right and should not be subject to negotiation or the claims of the detaining party, the Middle East News Agency reported.
It described Barghouti as a political prisoner who has faced repeated violations over the years. The League said it had previously called for an end to those violations, for an independent medical visit for him, for an international investigation into reported assaults and for his release.
The statement added that a credible path to a just and comprehensive peace must enable Palestinians to exercise their right to self-determination, in line with international resolutions, the Arab Peace Initiative and a two-state solution based on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
The League urged the international community to turn its support into practical measures to press for the release of prisoners, particularly Barghouti, end policies of detention, torture and settlement expansion, and create the conditions for a credible political process.
