Editing Marwan Barghouti (section)

== First Intifada, the Oslo Accords and the aftermath==
From exile, during the First Intifada, Barghouti continued to maintain contacts among activists in the [[West Bank]]. He simultaneously built relationships with the older generation of Fatah activists, who had waged their struggle from exile for more than three decades. He was elected to Fatah's [[Fatah Revolutionary Council|Revolutionary Council]], the movement's internal parliament, in 1989.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |date=2025-02-28 |title=הראיון בו שרטט ברגותי את מתווה אינתיפאדת אל-אקצא - המרכז הירושלמי לענ… |url=https://jcpa.org.il/2012/04/%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%91%D7%95-%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%98%D7%98-%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%92%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%99-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%95%D7%94-%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%90/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250228154707/https://jcpa.org.il/2012/04/%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%91%D7%95-%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%98%D7%98-%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%92%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%99-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%95%D7%94-%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%90/ |archive-date=2025-02-28}}</ref> When he was allowed to return to Palestine in April 1994 as a result of the Oslo Accords, Barghouti found that he was able to bridge the divide between the two groups.<ref name="Hajjar" />

Although he was a strong supporter of the peace process, he doubted that Israel was committed to it.<ref name="bbcprofile" /> In 1996, he was elected to the [[Palestinian Legislative Council]] for the district of [[Ramallah]].<ref name="bbcprofile" /> Barghouti campaigned against corruption in Arafat's administration and human rights violations by its security services.<ref name="bbcprofile" /> He participated in diplomacy and built relationships with a number of Israeli politicians, and with leaders of Israel's peace movement. A series of peace conferences in the wake of the Oslo accords featured "heated discussions."<ref name=":9" /> When [[Meir Sheetrit|Meir Shitreet]] fell ill during a peace conference in Italy, Shitreet said that Barghouti sat at his bedside through the night.<ref name=":7" /> In 1998 he attended a meeting with members of the [[Knesset|Israeli Knesset]], referring to those present as friends, and called to "strengthen this peace process."<ref name=":1" /> [[Haim Oron]], a former Israeli cabinet minister, recalled that "he spoke about the right of the Palestinians, and when I spoke about the right of Jews, he understood".<ref name=":7" /> His assistant has claimed that Barghouti never refused to meet any Israeli.<ref name=":7" /> By the late 1990s, Palestinians had become frustrated with the lack of progress toward an independent state that they felt had been promised by the Oslo accords, and by the privations of life under occupation. There were frequent demonstrations by civil society and political groups. According to [[Diana Buttu]], "Marwan was somebody who was present at each and every protest for weeks and weeks and weeks on end. It became very clear that we were just never going to see freedom."<ref name=":1" /> Barghouti met with the central committees of almost every Israeli party, the journalist [[Gideon Levy]] has claimed, to warn them that, with an impasse in the peace process, the situation was tending toward violence.<ref name=":1" />

The formal position occupied by Barghouti was Secretary-General of Fatah in the West Bank.<ref name="Kelly">{{cite book|title=Cambridge Studies in Law and Society: Law, Violence and Sovereignty Among West Bank Palestinians|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521868068|page=159|first=Tobias |last=Kelly|date=December 2006}}</ref> By the summer of 2000, particularly after the Camp David summit failed, Barghouti was disillusioned and said that popular protests and "new forms of military struggle" would be features of the "next Intifada."<ref name="bbcprofile" /><ref name="Hajjar" />