Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said today that Marwan Barghouthi, a Palestinian uprising leader, is on a list of prisoners the Hamas movement demands Israel release in exchange for a captive soldier.
His comments contradicted those of Deputy Prime Minister Azzam al-Ahmad of secular Fatah, who said Barghouthi, a Fatah member seen as a possible successor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, had been left off the roster.
"I can confirm to you that the list (of prisoners) included the name of Marwan al-Barghouthi," Mr Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said during a weekly protest by families of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Islamist Hamas, one of three militant groups that claimed responsibility for seizing the soldier, Gilad Shalit, last June and bringing him to the Gaza Strip, said a week ago the release demands were conveyed to Israel via Egyptian mediators.
Barghouthi, a legislator from the occupied West Bank, was convicted in 2004 of murder by an Israeli court over the killing of four Israelis and a Greek Orthodox monk in attacks by Palestinian militants. He is serving five life sentences.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said "No" when asked in a recent newspaper interview whether Barghouthi should expect an early release as part of a prisoner exchange.
Mr Olmert told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an interview on Monday that Israel was ready for what he called a "reasonable exchange" for Shalit's release. "I want to get him back into the hands of Israel. He's our soldier. We are committed to him," Olmert told CBC.
But Mr Olmert said he would not release as many as 1,400, the number of prisoners Hamas has said it demands Israel free. Olmert declined to tell CBC how many prisoners he would free, and said: "But it will definitely not be 1,400."
Freedom for prisoners in Israeli jails is a highly emotive issue for Palestinians, while in Israel many oppose early releases for people convicted of involvement in shootings and bombings.
"Every country has spoken about Shalit ... but who knows the names of 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, who mentions them, who mentions the suffering of their people," Mr Haniyeh told the protest gathering in Gaza.