Barghouti likely to be freed in exchange next week

PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS say Marwan Barghouti, a senior West Bank Fatah leader sentenced in 2002 by Israel to five life terms in jail, will be released next week in a swap for an Israeli soldier.

Commenting on the proposed deal, Barghouti said: “This time it is really happening; some of the prisoners will finally be free.”

He said Hamas’s seizure of an Israeli soldier was compelling Israel to free hundreds of the 10,000 Palestinian detainees.

“It appears that Israel has no choice but to yield to Hamas’s list of prisoners, of which I am one.”

The pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported yesterday that Barghouti would be among 1,150 Palestinian prisoners freed in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas’s affiliates in 2006.

The first stage of the deal would involve the freeing of 450 Palestinians and the transfer of Cpl Shalit from Gaza to Cairo. Israel would then free the rest of the Palestinians in two stages, after which Cpl Shalit would return home.

The release of Barghouti is likely to shake up the ailing Fatah movement headed by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who has announced he will not contest the next election.

Barghouti, now 50, stood against Mr Abbas in the 2005 presidential contest but withdrew before the vote in the interest of national unity.

Barghouti told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera he intended to be a candidate in the presidential poll due next year.

Opinion polls show he would defeat Hamas’s de facto premier, Ismail Haniyeh, and all other challengers.

Unlike Mr Abbas and his entourage, Barghouti, an organiser of Fatah’s youth wing, is not sullied by corruption, failure to achieve progress in negotiations with Israel or fomenting division between Fatah and Hamas.

Instead he has a reputation as a reformist and an advocate of reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, which ousted Fatah from power in Gaza 2½ years ago.

His “Mr Clean” image contrasts sharply with popular Palestinian assessments of his two most likely rivals, Muhammad Dahlan, the former security chief in Gaza, and Jibril Rajoub, his counterpart in the West Bank.

Mr Dahlan, who is widely disliked, is blamed by Fatah and many Palestinians for “losing” Gaza by mounting a disastrous coup against Hamas with a CIA-trained private militia during the spring of 2007.

In contrast to his rivals, who have exacerbated the Fatah-Hamas division, Barghouti makes national unity his priority and says he will put himself forward for election only after reconciliation has been achieved.

This stand has boosted his popularity with Palestinians who abhor division and argue that unity is essential to confront the existential challenges they face.

Reports of the prisoner exchange coincided with a conference held this week in Jericho by the Palestinian ministry for prisoners’ affairs.

On show was a large photograph of Barghouti embracing prisoners from other factions, notably Ahmad Sadat, head of the Popu- lar Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who is also expected to be released.

In a letter addressed to the gathering, Barghouti spoke of the plight of Palestinians in Israeli jails, a major concern for thousands of families with members incarcerated after summary trials by military tribunals or held without trial.

Since nearly every Palestinian household has or has had a detainee, Mr Barghouti, a spokesman for prisoners’ rights, is regarded as an icon and a symbol of the freedom struggle.