The Department of History and Archaeology at BZU held a lecture entitled: "The Palestinian Issue: Hidden Politics in the Memoirs of Omar Saleh al-Barghouti" on 24 April 2012. The lecture was delivered by Political Science faculty member, Sameeh Hammoudeh, and facilitated by Department Chair, Dr. Nazmi Al-Jubeh.

 

The lecturer commenced by presenting a brief biography of al-Barghouti, underscoring the importance of his diaries in re-writing Palestinian political and ideological history. Professor Hammoudeh pointed to the vital importance of collecting and maintaining Palestinian documents and papers in view of the absence of a central Palestinian archive.

 

Hammoudeh further explained some of the issues addressed by al-Barghouti, which covered the period between early 1951 to mid 1965, two days before his death. He added that al-Barghouti never stopped writing his diaries, which makes them a treasure for historians and students of Palestinian history.

 

He added: "al-Barghouti’s diaries included his views on the situation in the West Bank after the Nakba, developments of the Palestinian issue, Israeli attacks on the frontier villages, and the situation of the Arab world and its relation to the conflict with Israel. The dairies also expressed his interest in Ramallah and its inhabitants; international politics, particularly in relation to the American and Western stance and their bias towards Israel; as well as his comments on books published in the Arab world."

 

Hammoudeh concluded by emphasizing the importance of publishing al-Barghouti’s diaries so that they be added to other documents in the Palestinian archives which have enhanced knowledge and understanding of Palestinian history.

In fact, al-Barghouti’s granddaughter, Rafeef Barghouti, took the initiative and responsibility to complete his unfinished work by publishing a book entitled "Al-Marahel". This book is a historical journey covering the period between the end of the nineteenth century and the last third of the twentieth century including events which took place at the international, regional and local levels. Omar Saleh al-Barghouti was not only an observer to these events, but was also a key actor in many of them, especially those that shocked the Arab Region at that time.