mustafa barghouti, palestinian physician, activist, and politician.e serves as general secretary of the palestinian national initiative. he is joining us from ramallah in the occupied west bank. welcome to democracy now! let's talk about this issue of famine. doctors describing the wasting you see, for example, at the temples, people dying of starvation, particularly children. can you talk about what this means and when these officials in the u.n. and other bodies talk about this man-made disaster? >> the reality is the whole of gaza population, 2.3 million people, are suffering from malnutrition already. that includes children, men, women, pregnant women, breast-feeding women, everybody. that is because of the israeli -imposed siege on gaza. the continuous bombardment taken why the lives of people. it is also combined with the fact israel has destroyed more than 70% of people's homes. they don't have normal place to be in. they don't have normal clothes. they don't have clean water to drink. and they don't have food supplies. this is all happening in

now in his 60s, barghouti has long been a key player in palestinian politics.at the age of 15. he gained prominence among his people because of his long- standing quest for palestinian independence. in 2004, he was sentenced by an israeli court to five consecutive life sentences for directing attacks against israelis in the second after he grew disillusioned with the peace process. however, he came to realize the necessity of coexistence after years of struggle. he advocates for permanent peace between israelis and palestinians as independent and equal neighbors. top israeli paper published an editorial as far back as 2012, noting his potential. if israel had wanted an agreement with the palestinians, it would have released him from prison by now. barghouti is the most authentic leader produced, and he can lead his people to an agreement. anyone who thinks like the israeli government does that this situation can go on forever undisturbed is leading us into another cycle of violence. members of israeli zone security establishment have also called for his release