Marwan Barghouti: Palestine’s prisoner of hope

For many long months, Israeli and Hamas officials have been flying in and out of Cairo in an attempt to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of 115 Israeli hostages. As part of any deal, Hamas is demanding the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. One name consistently tops the list: Marwan Barghouti.

Barghouti is a politician and a professor. He’s a renowned peacemaker, and he’s a convicted murderer in the eyes of the Israeli courts. In the Middle East and the West, there are long running whispers that he’s also the best candidate to take over the Palestinian leadership.

The last hope. The Palestinians desperately need a new leader. 

• Mahmoud Abbas, the current president, is 88 years old. After a two-decade reign over the West Bank, many Palestinians view him as corrupt and acquiescent to the entrenchment of Israel’s occupation.
• Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, was assassinated last week in Iran in an attack widely linked to Israel. 

Barghouti is far more popular than either of these men. Polls suggest that if an election was held tomorrow, he would win easily without having to leave his prison cell. For many Palestinians, he is seen as the best option for the post-war governance of Gaza. 

Palestinians support Barghouti because:

• He’s railed against corruption and his family have maintained a modest lifestyle, in contrast with other Palestinian leaders;
• his prisoner status means he’s seen as sacrificing himself for the Palestinian cause; 
• he belongs to Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party but has good relations with all the main Palestinian parties; and
• he’s seen as a man of the people; an autodidact rather than an intellectual.

Moderate Israelis and the West favour Barghouti because:

• He speaks flawless Hebrew and is a professor of Israel studies;
• he counts many Israelis among his friends;
• he’s long been a believer in a two-state solution; and 
• he has managed to get Hamas and Islamic Jihad to agree to the idea of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders – a key requirement of a two-state solution.

But… In 2003 Barghouti was found guilty of leading the Palestinian militant group the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in attacks that killed five civilians, something he has always denied. He is currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail, plus an additional 40 years. 

He has also described Israeli settlers living illegally on occupied Palestinian land as legitimate targets.

What does he want? It’s unclear. His last recorded interview was in 2006 with Channel 4’s Lindsey Hilsum. Since then he has been prevented from speaking to the media. Even his lawyers have only managed two visits in the past ten months. 

But Barghouti probably doesn’t want to take over as PA president. No one wants that job, which is why Abbas has been unopposed for almost two decades. The Palestinian Authority in its current form is seen by most Palestinians as Israel’s subcontractor, administering and enabling their occupation in the West Bank.

Barghouti has been compared to South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. But Mandela had a united political system behind him and international pressure on South African President DeKlerk to end apartheid. That isn’t the case for Palestinians. But Barghouti may represent their last hope.

What’s more. Ten months into Israel’s bombardment, with growing desperation, poverty and famine across the Strip, Gaza could descend into a lawless, criminal state on a par with Somalia unless Israel and the international community can agree on a post-war governance plan. And for now, there’s no end to the fighting in sight.