Palestinian democratic activist Mustafa Barghouti spoke last night on the nascent Palestinian democratic process and the current and future prospects for what he termed “a society closer to democracy than any other Arab country.” In his speech, titled “Democracy in Occupied Palestine,” Barghouti argued that recent Palestinian elections constituted a tremendous demographic transformation, and that the peace process was hampered by the Israeli occupation. The event was sponsored by the ASSU Speakers Bureau, the Muslim Student Awareness Network (MSAN), the Coalition for Justice in the Middle East (CJME) and the Organization of Arab Students in Stanford (OASIS).

A medical doctor by training, Barghouti finished second in the Palestinian presidential elections last year with 20 percent of the vote, and was recently elected to the Palestinian parliament as the head of the Independent Palestine list — a coalition of independents and non-governmental organization (NGO) members.

The first half of Barghouti’s speech focused on the recent Palestinian elections, which he claimed constituted an impressive demographic transformation, though he said that the achievement had been underreported due to the spotlight on the Hamas majority in parliament. He attributed the election process itself to several factors: misgovernment by the Palestinian Authority, the rapid evolution of communication mechanisms and — to a certain extent — the reaction of the Palestinian population to the Israeli occupation.

Barghouti also addressed the issue of Hamas’ victory, which has led to the withdrawal of several international sources of aid, including the United States.

He explained that Hamas did well for two reasons: the failure of the peace process, and the grassroots efforts of the group. In addition, Barghouti claimed many Palestinians voted for Hamas to protest against previous candidates who they viewed as corrupt or ineffective. Regardless of who was elected, he said, the democratic process itself was the most important point.

However, Barghouti warned that current Israeli actions could destroy prospects for a two-state solution in the conflict-ridden region. In the second half of his presentation, Barghouti presented what he characterized as examples of Israeli unilateral action.

“Ehud Olmert, the successor to Ariel Sharon, insists that negotiations can’t continue because there is no partner on the Palestinian side,” Barghouti said.

He presented maps that showed what he said was the diminution of Palestinian land and images of the planned Israeli barrier, which — according to his presentation — showed an attempt to retain major Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as water sources. He acknowledged a flier distributed by “a group of Stanford students hoping for peace” before the talk that disputed the numbers and characterizations, but stood by his presentation.

“If you want to call it a fence, call it a fence,” he said. “If you can call this a fence, fine. It’s more than eight meters high and 750 kilometers in length. It is such a terrible structure that I don’t know how anyone can justify it.”

Barghouti showed photographs of lines of Palestinians blocked by a wall and linked the struggles of daily life of Palestinians to the stalled peace talks.

However, Barghouti stressed the need for optimism throughout his presentation.

“I still believe there is hope,” he said. “It is not impossible to achieve peace. It is possible. It is ending the occupation, allowing negotiations to continue, the prevalence of two-state solutions and a willingness to live and coexist. We will not go away. Especially since we have democracy now, you know.”