The man who arrested Marwan Barghouti in 2002 is now lobbying for his release. Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Minister of National Infrastructure in the Kadima-led government, has made the following offer: Marwan Barghouti in exchange for Gilad Shalit.
Many Israelis have grabbed on Ben-Eliezer's statement, raising speculation - and hope - that the young and charismatic leader of Fatah will soon be released. On September 25, Haaretz wrote that Barghouti will be the winner in the upcoming November Peace Conference, called for by the US President George W. Bush. If it fails - something that many observers predict - this would only prove that current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is incapable of delivering peace to the Palestinians. It would diminish his already limited power base in Fatah and force the Palestinians, Israelis, and Americans to look for alternatives. Number one on the list of potential replacements would be Marwan Barghouti.
This was seconded by Israeli analyst Ammon Abramovitz who said on Israeli TV that the only solution to the current crisis would be releasing Barghouti from jail; only he can deliver peace with Israel - and get away with it.
Uri Avnery, the veteran Israeli journalist and peace activist, wrote an article about the arrested leader of Fatah last September coining him "the Palestinian Mandela".
The Ben-Eliezer Initiative was not born yesterday. It dates back to the period preceding the 2006 elections in Palestine. Right before then, prime minister Ariel Sharon sent Barghouti a message through future Justice Minister Haim Ramon of Kadima. Sharon wanted to know whether Barghouti, if released from jail, would support Hamas (his allies during the intifada)? The arrested leader said "no" adding that he would only support a moderate candidate from Fatah, naming current Prime Minister Salam Fayad. Sharon toyed with the idea of freeing Barghouti. He believed that Barghouti's release would be easier than accepting Hamas at the helm of power in post-Arafat Palestine. Sharon went into comma, however, right before the elections and his plan never saw light.
Instead, Hamas was elected to office with a thundering victory, which led to the creation of the Esmail Haniya cabinet. In 2006, Yossi Bellin called for a presidential pardon for Barghouti, seeing that talks with Abbas were going nowhere. Kadima's M.K. Meir Sheetrit seconded.
Last January 2007, Shimon Peres said that if elected president, he would pardon and release Barghouti. He has been in office since July, however, and no such pardon or release yet.
The idea resurfaced with Ben-Eliezer. He believes that Barghouti's release would do justice for Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and has shared this view with both Ehud Olmert and his defence minister, Ehud Barak.
For his part, Barghouti doesn't hide his presidential ambitions, and even nominated himself for office - from behind bars - after the death of Arafat in 2004. Fatah pressured him to withdraw in favour of Abbas.
Good president
He would make a good president for a variety of reasons. One is the popularity he enjoys in the Palestinian street - strengthened no doubt - with his prison term since 2002. Barghouti is relatively young, aged 48, born in 1959. He combines the spirit of youth and wisdom of middle-age. He has unparalleled grassroot popularity and is considered the most gifted orator in Fatah.
Young people look up to him and have his poster plastered on their bedroom walls. He would make a good negotiator - he speaks fluent Hebrew, having learned it in Israeli jails in the 1970s. He knows how to lead demonstrations when needed, a skill earned during his tenure as president of the student body at Birzeit University.
He rose to fame with the first intifada of 1987, as a youth leader, and was arrested then and deported to Jordan. After Oslo, Yasser Arafat brought him back to Palestine. In 1996, he legitimised Oslo by joining parliament and advocating peace with Israel. The Palestinians like and respect him. If he tells them to sign peace - just like Arafat did in 1993 - they would listen. Nobody would denounce him as a traitor, a puppet of the Americans,.
Barghouti - just like Arafat - has plenty of war medals to boast of. Ben-Eleizer realises (and so do many Israelis and Barghouti himself) that there is no alternative in Palestine. Should Abbas end his term in failure, die while in office, or be toppled then more chaos would prevail in the Palestinian street, re-igniting civil war with Hamas.
The Islamic group ruined its own reputation by the seizure of Gaza earlier this summer, further alienating the Arab World, the West and fellow Palestinians. Fatah lacks credible and popular leaders; they were either killed over the many years by Israel (such as Abu Jihad, Abu Eyad, or Abu Hassan Salameh), or weakened and sidelined by old age (like Abu Al Lutf). Abbas can neither deliver peace nor can he effectively lead a resistance because to start out with, he doesn't believe in military solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Mahmoud Dahlan, a favourite of both the Israelis and Americans, lacks a power base within Palestine although he too harbours presidential ambitions. Its either Barghouti or chaos in post-Abbas Palestine.
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