A few days ago, Hamas proposed exchanging the 230 hostages held in Gaza for “all Palestinian prisoners in Israel.” Among them is Marwan Barghouti, who was sentenced to life in prison for attacks in Israel in 2004 and is often portrayed as a man of Palestinian political unity.
“In every internal crisis or every crisis with Israel, his name comes up again,” admits Jean-Paul Chagnollaud, director of the Institute for Mediterranean Middle East Research and Studies (iReMMO). Marwan Barghouti, also called “Palestinian Nelson Mandela,” is also the most famous Palestinian prisoner. While more than 1,400 Israelis were massacred and nearly 240 men, women and children were kidnapped in the Hamas attacks on October 7, Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida said in a video broadcast on October 28 that the “price that will be paid to the hostages pay” is “Empty the prisons of all Palestinian prisoners.”
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Among them Marwan Barghouti. The former leader of Tanzim – the armed wing of Fatah founded by Yasser Arafat in 1995 – was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to five life sentences by Israeli courts for attacks and membership in a terrorist organization. “He was arrested more than 20 years ago, right at the time of the Second Intifada (2000-2005). He was one of the very active leaders of Fatah and was not assassinated,” explains Jean-Paul Chagnollaud. That’s important because… There were a lot of targeted killings back then and it wasn’t him. He was arrested and I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
From the depths of his cell, Marwan Barghouti never ceased to exist. In 2006, he played an important role in the signing of the National Prisoners’ Understanding Document between the imprisoned leaders of Fatah, Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and Hamas to ensure the political unity of Palestine. The text calls for the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, the limitation of Palestinian resistance to the 1967 occupied territories, the observance of a mutual ceasefire and calls on the Palestinians to resist the occupation with respect for international law. The aim was to form a coalition government to break the deadlock that arose after Hamas’s victory in the Gaza Strip’s parliamentary elections. Since the Islamist movement was recognized as a “terrorist organization” by the European Union, the United States and Israel, its political victory was never recognized and led to violent clashes with Fatah.
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Popular among Palestinian youth
Over the years, Marwan Barghouti has established himself as the only person capable of creating unity among Palestinian organizations. “He is not very far from Hamas and has accompanied them on several occasions, especially when he created this prisoner document. He succeeded in bringing Hamas and Fatah to an agreement. He is a character who has exactly this ability to unite, and that’s why he is.” “We had a great chance of winning the 2021 parliamentary elections,” the Middle East specialist continued.
Elections that never happened. Since the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004, Palestinians have only known Mahmoud Abbas as the head of the Palestinian Authority. Although his mandate officially expired in 2009, the head of the Palestinian Authority canceled the elections planned for 2021, citing the impossibility of the Palestinians of East Jerusalem to take part. For many observers, the main thing was for the 88-year-old leader to avoid a crushing defeat. “The fairly reliable Israeli and Palestinian polls gave Barghouti (and his Freedom Party, editor’s note) a serious chance of winning against the Palestinian Authority president. He retains a certain respect among the population.”
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An analysis by Frédéric Encel, doctor of geopolitics and Middle East specialist. “He spent many years in prison in Israel, which obviously gives him a guarantee of probity, heroism and patriotism in the eyes of Palestinians,” he explains. When he headed Fatah, this conservative was in favor of an alliance with Hamas, which is not the case with all Palestinian Authority activists.
Surveys of Palestinians show that he has been the most popular figure among young people for several years, well ahead of Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh.
In August 2023, his wife Fadwa Barghouti launched another international campaign calling for his release: “Freedom for Marwan Barghouti, the Mandela of Palestine.” “There have been campaigns for his release with this slogan for years, especially with Nobel Prizes. Like Mandela, he spent more than 20 years in prison, which reinforces his symbolism regarding his ability to negotiate politically,” notes Jean-Paul Chagnollaud. That’s pretty logical because it’s basically the idea that he has the skills to be a unifying leader and get out of an impossible situation. For a Palestinian, legitimacy has always meant prison. Those who leave are crowned with this passage, which is a kind of “…” certificate of resistance.
There are currently only a few personalities on the political stage who can overshadow him. “The potential leaders have no charisma and, moreover, are hated by the population precisely because they are part of the Palestinian security apparatus that collaborates with the Israeli security apparatus,” emphasizes Jean-Paul Chagnollaud. “If you ask yourself the question of notoriety among Palestinians, it is Barghouti, for example, and not Dahlane,” adds Frédéric Encel.
Mohammed Dahlane, a former Fatah strongman in Gaza, has been in exile in the United Arab Emirates since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2006. In a rare interview with The Economist newspaper on October 30, the businessman, convicted in absentia of corruption in 2016 by a Palestinian court, discussed the need to establish a “government composed of technocrats from Gaza and the Gaza Strip” after the war with Israel West Bank for two years”. After this transition period, elections could be held without excluding Hamas, “which will not disappear.”
If Mohammed Dahlane does not mention the name Marwan Barghouti, it is because he believes that there is no providential human being. No one can solve the Palestinian crisis alone because “with Arafat, the time of heroes is over,” he told The Economist, putting aside any personal ambition.
“We will not succeed in eradicating Hamas”
Can Marwan Barghouti be the figure of the day after? The one that will arise when the war between Hamas and Israel ends and the question of the government of Gaza arises? For Jean-Paul Chagnollaud, this hypothesis remains unlikely. “At the moment, Israel has not responded to this request from Hamas [de libérer les détenus palestiniens, NDLR]. Such exchanges remain very rare and can change from one moment to the next. If he came out he would actually be a character who could play a role, but in the current chaos I don’t see how, unless he gets co-opted by the apparatus that doesn’t want him at the moment [le Fatah, NDLR].” Furthermore, for Frédéric Encel, today there is no guarantee that Marwan Barghouti is ready to “take on great responsibility at the head of the Palestinian Authority and especially in Gaza.”
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As the war between Hamas and Israel intensifies by the day, the future of the Gaza Strip appears to be increasingly in jeopardy. “I do not believe that Israel will succeed in eradicating Hamas, including its military branch,” concludes Jean-Paul Chagnollaud. And even if the Israelis succeeded, sooner or later another military branch would emerge. On the other hand, Gaza is being destroyed. It is an absolute catastrophe whose impact no one knows.”