Word: barghouti
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...restoring a peace process, and one whom, once elected, will owe a substantial political debt to the Martyr's Brigade and the broader militant Fatah rank and file of which they form part. That's because it was the militants who cajoled the imprisoned popular Fatah militant Marwan Barghouti into withdrawing from the race and throwing his support behind Abbas. Barghouti may well have beaten Abbas in a head-to-head race, particularly since his candidacy would likely have received strong backing not only from the Fatah rank and file, but also from Hamas, which is formally staying...
...Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Until last week, Mahmoud Abbas--Arafat's longtime P.L.O. deputy who has the backing of the Central Committee of Fatah, the most powerful Palestinian party--seemed likely to roll up a big victory in the Jan. 9 election for Palestinian President. But last week Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison for his part in deadly shooting attacks early in the four-year intifadeh, announced his candidacy for the job too. Barghouti, a former moderate who now represents the radical wing of Fatah, has much greater support among ordinary Palestinians than...
...Barghouti a serious candidate, or has he simply thrown his hat in the ring as a bargaining chip to win his release? People close to Barghouti tell TIME he decided at the last minute to renege on a deal not to run, dismayed at failing to win promises from Abbas to nominate people from Barghouti's camp for top jobs in a new administration and to push Israel for his release. A senior U.S. State Department official tells TIME he believes that Barghouti wants to leverage his threat of running for his own interests. Since Abbas controls the apparatus...
Israeli officials insist they will not free Barghouti--even if he stays in the race and wins the presidency. Israeli Police Minister Tzahi Hanegbi said last week that Barghouti would remain in jail "for 100 years." But agents in the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security service, tell TIME they believe there's a chance that if Barghouti is elected the next Palestinian President, international pressure will force Israeli political leaders to go against the security service's advice and release him. --By Matt Rees. With reporting by Jamil Hamad, Aharon Klein and Massimo Calabresi
...there are as many dangers for Barghouti as for Abbas if the prisoner stays in the race. If he loses, his candidacy may nonetheless have delivered the political equivalent of a fatal wound to Abbas, at the same time as burning his own prospects for fulfilling his "Palestinian Mandela" ambitions. If Barghouti stayed in the race with the backing of the Fatah militants - making it an election fought over the fundamental strategic direction to be adopted by the Palestinians - and was then decisively defeated, Abbas would be free to pursue all manner of hitherto unpopular compromises with Israel. But that...