Imprisoned Fatah leader speaks out

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JERUSALEM, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A Fatah leader imprisoned in Israel says the Palestinians must combine resistance and negotiation to end what he called "the siege" conditions they live in.

Marwan Barghouti, Fatah's former secretary-general in the West Bank, met at Rimonim Prison with Mohammed Barakeh, a member of the Israeli parliament, YNetNews reported. Barakeh had just met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

"We're struggling for a small country in size, but a large one in honor and freedom," Barghouti said. "The Palestinian people tried resistance without negotiation, and negotiation without resistance, and the truth is there is no other way but resistance to the 1967 occupier while keeping in mind the diplomatic horizon."

Barghouti said the Palestinians should maintain a cease-fire and warned against killing civilians.