uh let's return now to the news that the
chief palestinian
negotiator say barakat has died at the
age of 65. he had suffered serious
health problems for several years
before contracting coronavirus he
announced that he had contracted the
virus last month and was being treated
in hospital in jerusalem joining me now
from ramallah is dr mustafa barghouti a
palestinian politician
and a friend of saiyab arakat thank you
very much for joining us today as we
uh take stock of of this news uh
cybercat
had i think tweeted uh just a few weeks
ago he'd obviously
revealed that he had uh this virus and
he had tweeted that god willing you know
things were
on the mend were the words that he used
things are under control
um but you know given his health
conditions clearly this was a very tough
battle that he was fighting with the
virus
yes it's a big loss we feel the loss his
family of course
before anybody else feels a great loss
and we as
his friends and colleagues in struggle
we all
feel this big loss doctor sab
was a fighter for palestinian rights
he was a well-known and astonished
diplomat and he
ran lots of negotiations on behalf of
palestinians and he was the secretary
general of the plo
so of course it's a big loss for
everybody but
i must say that he did not stop working
even when he knew that he was risking
his life
given the spread of the coronavirus and
unfortunately this is a
he is now an additional and another
victim of this horrible virus
and let's hope that there will be a
possibility of controlling this pandemic
so that we would
will not have more losses but dr
ricciard will be remembered for his
struggle he
he has participated in palestinian
struggle since he was a student
and then for many years as a teacher in
universities
and also as a diplomat and as an
activist in the plo
and uh we we really feel a big
that this is a big loss
that will be difficult to replace
but our struggle has to continue and our
deep condolences
are to his family to his colleagues to
the
whole all the palestinian groups in the
plo and especially to fatah his
party uh he had sought for many years
uh a two-state solution hadn't he and as
recently as the summer
he was criticizing uh various countries
for their decisions to formalize ties
with israel he had criticized for
example the uae
uh for formalizing ties with israel he
said that this was a
a a killer blow to his ambitions for
this two-state solution
um what especially taking into account
the issues that there have been with
president trump and
and his approach to dealing with the
middle east
now we have a new president in america
uh do you think that say barakat would
have thought
that this held out the promise for uh
for some movement
well everybody thinks so because i think
the
disappearance of president trump is a
big relief not only to the palestinian
people but
to the peoples of the whole world
because unfortunately we have witnessed
during his period very serious reckless
policies that has affected the things
from
global environment to world health
organization
to the rule of law and international law
but most
the biggest grave damage was made to the
palestinian issue
because he adopted completely
netanyahu's plan
of the deal of the century which is
nothing but liquidating the palestinian
rights
i hope that the new administration will
follow a different path
but what we definitely want to see is a
very serious pressure on israel to
immediately stop
the process of building settlements
because that would kill the possibility
of two-state solution
what we would like to see also as a
reversal of the admission or acceptance
of the annexation of jerusalem and the
gulen heights which violates
international law
uh there is an opportunity here that
with that we hope that the new
administration will use but the last
thing we want
is to go back to an endless uh useless
negotiations that lead to nothing and
that
keep procrastinating the possibility for
a solution we want a solution
not just we want peace not just a peace
process
doctor mustafa vaguti uh thank you very
much
for your thoughts today on the news that
saith arakat has died
and let's speak now to dr hassam
zomlot who's the ambassador and head of
the palestinian mission
to the uk ambassador thank you very much
for your time
as well uh your thoughts today on the
news that save arakat
has died and how you would
sum up his role in in middle east peace
negotiations
uh for several decades he was the
architect of the
of the middle east uh peace process and
the hope
for uh ending the conflict and realizing
the dream of peace of two states of
allying with international rules today
is really a sad day
saturday of course for his immediate
family this small family
sad day for palestine sadly for all our
international friends who have hoped
for a successful peace agreement
it is indeed a big loss for us the
palestinians this is a leader
who has spent his entire life literally
his entire life
serving his nation defending the rights
of his people
in every forum uh one can imagine
be it internally and fatih the political
party has lost one of its most
popular leaders be it at the level of
the government and the representation of
the plo he's the secretary general
of our umbrella organization that
represents all palestinians the soul
legitimate representation and indeed
he's our negotiator
the stubborn negotiator that has his
hands always
reach to everybody but his heart
is always strong when it comes to the
principles
and to the very legitimate rights of the
palestinian people so it's a
it's a very very sad loss at a very
particular moment when in fact
we needed it the most he was a he was a
close friend of mine
and i feel personally a severe sense of
loss
our middle east correspondent a few
minutes ago was saying that mr arakat
was very much
emblematic of a generation of leaders
who had
a very strong ambitions uh for
palestinians statehood for a two-state
solution and obviously relations
uh with israel had been at well
a pretty big low hadn't they uh recently
um
who takes up that mantle now from saeed
arakat do you think because presumably
he is he is someone
with his wealth of experience who will
be very hard to replace
yes indeed he will be very hard to
replace
uh this is not just about the position
or the the duties he used to carry it's
about the
the person and the belief in him the
commitment
the energy i mean he had the endless
energy
i was the ambassador to in washington
when he did the operation
you know the the lung transplant i
witnessed that moment i went with him to
the operation theater
i saw in him that fighter he never gives
up and
he will it will be really truly truly
difficult to replace him
but in the end palestine is a vivid
living nation and
we will have many generations who would
take up that
that uh flame and continue our march
towards freedom and
realize um the the dreams and the
ambitions and the objectives and the
goals
of dr arica the the the many decades he
have bought
really in that in that
fight so um there will be people who
will carry on uh
however uh cyber cut the
person cyber aircraft the leader sorry
america
the officials tribe record the
peacemaker side america
the freedom fighter will be missed
for many years to come ambassador thank
you
very much ambassador hassam zomlot head
of the palestinian mission to the uk
thank you for your time today