JERUSALEM -- Mustafa Barghouti, the Palestinian minister of information in the National Unity Government suspended Friday night by President Mahmoud Abbas after a stunning rout of Fatah forces by Hamas in Gaza, says he turned down the offer, this weekend, of a portfolio in the just-formed Emergency Government in Palestine.
In a telephone interview from Ramallah with the Middle East Times Monday, Barghouti explained that he doesn‘t agree with Hamas that the new Emergency Government is unconstitutional. He said that Abbas had the full right to dissolve a cabinet and declare an emergency.
However, Barghouti said he does have a negative reaction to the word "emergency," and to decisions to suspend the laws.
"I struggled all my life for human rights and democracy, and maintaining the law will be the only way out of this terrible crisis," he stated, adding, "and, I see myself as a person of unity, not of division."
But most importantly, Barghouti explained, this government will only be for 30 days.
Many of the various interpretations of the Palestinian Basic Law that have been published in recent days are not correct, Barghouti said. "I know, I am a legislator, and I have it right here in front of me. It says that an emergency government can be constituted only for 30 days, after which the matter must go to the Palestine Legislative Council (PLC), which must agree by a two-thirds majority vote to extend it, one time only, for another 30 days."
Barghouti was reading from chapter 7, article 113 of the Palestinian Basic Law, which is the only part of the provisional constitution that cannot be revoked.
"It says that ‘it is not allowed to dissolve the PLC, or to suspend any article of this chapter,‘" he stressed.
In addition, the president by no means has any right to change this article in the event of an emergency, Barghouti insisted. "These articles were designed with Western help, to restrict the ability of former president Yasser Arafat to suspend the laws during a declared emergency."
And, he said, "the Palestine Legislative Council can convene any time to revoke the emergency."
Asked if there were any moves to try to convene the PLC - in which Hamas has a majority - to discuss the situation, Barghouti said that there was some discussion, but no decision as yet.
On proposals that are swirling around - and which some say have been endorsed if not formulated by Abbas - to call for a UN or an international force to go into Gaza, Barghouti asked, "Why not to go into the West Bank and Gaza, both?"
He said that he has called many times for an international presence and protection for the Palestinians, but not only in Gaza.
"But the idea has always been rejected by Israel," Barghouti said.
His calls were more for a civilian international presence, but Barghouti didn‘t raise any objections today to a military force.
Asked if Hamas has gone into hiding in the West Bank, Barghouti replied, "I see some everywhere."
"Look, the problem here is that we are under a military occupation. The sad thing is that this fight is for a Palestinian Authority that does not have any authority ... and Gaza is a big prison."
Barghouti ran as an independent candidate in January 2005 elections for president against Abbas, winning nearly 20 percent of the vote.
He is a medical doctor, and in 1979 he founded the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, which provides health care and services in the West Bank and Gaza. He is also founder of the Ramallah-based Health, Development, Information, and Policy Institute, a policy think-tank which publishes the Palestine Monitor on the internet.
Barghouti is co-founder of Al Mubadara, which wants a reinforced Palestinian national leadership. And Barghouti was one of the Palestinian delegates to the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference.