Who is Mustafa Barghouti?

Patrick Tyson wrote me about a blunder I made earlier today, confusing convicted terrorist Marwan Baghouti with apparent second-place winner in the Palestinian election Mustafa Barghouti. Marwan himself had been in and out of the election so many times I guess I got mixed up. Still, my bad. It’s been corrected.

But who is Mustafa Barghouti anyway? I saw him speak on Geraldo’s Show a short time ago and he seemed a relatively slick politician. Haaretz had an article about him just yesterday, but they seem as confused as I am… well almost. In any case, he appears at least to be paying lip service to the peace process and a two-state solution. Neither Abbas nor Barghouti are as bad as Arafat, although Abbas is making a good coat-and-tie imitation for the moment. Meanwhile, Barghouti is complaining of election irregularities. Invisible ink problems, doncha know? It’s always the same… from Ohio to Afghanistan. I guess there’s some cause for optimism in that.