Palestinian in Israeli Jail May Seek Arafat Job

JERUSALEM —  Imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has decided to run for the post of Palestinian Authority president in Jan. 9 elections, his associates said Thursday, a move that could pose a major challenge to the traditional leadership.

Barghouti has decided to seek the top Palestinian post, said Saad Nimr, who heads a campaign seeking Barghouti’s release from Israeli prison, where he is serving multiple life terms.

Nimr said Barghouti would issue a formal statement today. Officials with the Palestine Liberation Organization’s dominant Fatah faction confirmed that Barghouti’s lawyers had indicated he would run, according to news agencies’ reports.

The move would increase pressure on Israel to release Barghouti, a former lawmaker in his mid-40s who is one of the best-known leaders of the 4-year-old Palestinian uprising.

Barghouti’s candidacy would present a serious threat to Mahmoud Abbas, a pragmatist who replaced the late Yasser Arafat as head of the PLO and is Fatah’s official nominee.

Fatah’s Revolutionary Council on Thursday ratified Abbas’ nomination, made this week by a smaller leadership committee.

Fatah officials said Thursday that they were sending a representative who is an ally of Barghouti to his prison today to try to dissuade him from entering the race.

Barghouti is a longtime Fatah activist, most recently serving as its general secretary. It was unclear whether he would run as head of a breakaway Fatah group or as an independent.

But his presence on the ballot could fracture Fatah between an old guard affiliated with Arafat and a younger generation of members who have agitated for greater power inside the party. Barghouti’s backers say Abbas lacks the public backing to win, even if Barghouti stayed out.

But Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a senior Fatah official, said Abbas was the “only candidate from Fatah in the presidential election.”

The move could create a dilemma for Israeli officials, who say they have no intention of releasing Barghouti from prison but have promised to do whatever they can to ensure that the Palestinians are able to run a free and fair vote to replace Arafat, who died Nov. 11.

Barghouti, arrested in April 2002, is serving five consecutive life terms after he was convicted in May 2004 by an Israeli court in the deaths of five people. Israel charged that Barghouti, a leader of a militia affiliated with Fatah, was responsible for the fatal attacks by Palestinian militants. He denied the charges and declined to mount a court defense, claiming Israel lacked jurisdiction.

“He’s not a political prisoner. This is a criminal,” a senior Israeli official said Thursday. “Until the day he dies, he’s going to be in prison.”

There has been speculation that Barghouti might be released as part of a swap in which Egypt would free Azzam Azzam, an Israeli citizen jailed in 1997 on charges of spying. In the past, Israel has released militants as part of prisoner swaps or as gestures of goodwill, but on condition that they had no Israeli “blood on their hands.”

Talk about Barghouti’s release came up during U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell’s visit with Israeli and Palestinian officials this week.

“I am not sure what he is planning to do, but I think we will just have to wait and see,” Powell told Israel’s Channel One. “He is now in legal custody of the state of Israel, and that situation is not something that appears to be about to change.”

It is unclear how Barghouti would serve as president if he were elected while behind bars. In order for Barghouti to appear on the ballot, supporters must gather the signatures of 5,000 registered voters and pay a $3,000 fee.

His decision to challenge Abbas surprised many party loyalists, who had dismissed reports of his intention to run as part of a bargaining strategy aimed at securing reforms that would reduce the role of the older generation of PLO leaders who returned from exile with Arafat in 1994.

Even as activists arrived Thursday for a meeting at Arafat’s former headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, some Fatah members brushed aside early news reports that Barghouti would run.

Unlike those in Arafat’s inner circle, Barghouti has a base built up over the years as a West Bank student leader and later as the most visible leader of Fatah’s young militants.

Though often critical of Arafat, he was widely mentioned as a possible successor, an idea that once seemed to appeal even to some Israelis.

Barghouti supported the 1993 Oslo accords, advocated a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and enjoyed contacts with Israel’s peace camp.

But after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, in September 2000, Barghouti also endorsed violent resistance as a way to end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Barghouti’s incarceration -- his third stint in an Israeli prison -- has added to his grass-roots appeal, which extends to the Gaza Strip and would make him a formidable national candidate. In polls, he enjoys more popular support than other Palestinian leaders, including the 69-year-old Abbas, a longtime Arafat deputy.

In recent interviews, many Palestinians said Barghouti -- whom they often affectionately refer to as Marwan -- was the only leader capable of taking over after Arafat.

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Times special correspondent Maher Abukhater in Ramallah contributed to this report.