As talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release gather pace, Hamas is expected to seek the release of some of the highest-profile prisoners held by Israel, including the most popular and potentially unifying Palestinian political figure: Marwan Barghouti.
Israel views Barghouti and the others as terrorist masterminds who murdered Israeli civilians and has refused to release them in past exchanges. But it faces mounting pressure to end the war and bring back the remaining 48 hostages taken in Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack, around 20 of them believed to be alive.
Many Palestinians view the thousands of prisoners held by Israel as political prisoners or freedom fighters resisting decades of military occupation.
Hamas negotiator Mousa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera the group continues to press for Barghouti’s release and remains in talks with mediators. Israel regards Barghouti as a terrorist leader; he is serving multiple life terms after a 2004 conviction over attacks that killed five people.
Marwan Barghouti
For several years, polls have shown that the 66-year-old Barghouti is the most popular Palestinian political figure and suggest he would handily win presidential elections, which haven’t been held since 2005.
He’s far more popular than Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and seen as someone who could succeed him and potentially mend the longstanding rift between Abbas’ Fatah movement and Hamas. Some have even compared him to Nelson Mandela, who was jailed for 27 years before becoming South Africa’s first Black president.
Barghouti was a senior Fatah leader in the Israeli-occupied West Bank during the intifada, or Palestinian uprising, that erupted in 2000, and Israel says he orchestrated attacks that killed several people. He was arrested in 2002 and later given five life sentences. He offered no defense, refusing to recognize the Israeli court’s legitimacy.
He supports the creation of a Palestinian state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war, something Israel’s current government and most of its political class oppose.
Source: AP
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