munaeem | 10 April, 2007 07:33
The Post has learned that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas did not raise the release of Barghouti with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during their three meetings over the last three months.
Barghouti's release would undoubtedly have a huge impact on Palestinian politics, and some observers maintain that Abbas is not keen on facing a strong political rival from inside Fatah at this time.
Another school of thought believes that the fact that Hamas put Barghouti on the list of prisoners submitted to Israel, while Fatah has not actively pushed his release, indicated that he has moved closer to Hamas."
Marwan Barghouti was not well known among Palestinians until his leadership of the current intifada, and conviction in an Israeli court, turned him into a household name. Now he is a familiar figure across the area - and many see him as a potential future Palestinian leader.
In 1996, he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council with overwhelming support.
He launched a campaign against human rights abuses by Arafat's own security services and corruption among his officials.
"Marwan Barghouti has always identified with the grass-roots rather than the leadership," says Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the influential pan-Arabic newspaper al-Quds| « | April 2007 | » | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | ||||||
