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 Verfasst am: 02.12.2004, 21:35 Titel: Intifada leader seeks Arafat job |
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Profile: Marwan Barghouti
Barghouti is one of the faces of the intifada
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 running in the election to succeed the late Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority, despite serving five life terms in an Israeli jail.
When the Palestinian uprising broke out in 2000, he led marches to Israeli checkpoints, where riots broke out against Israeli soldiers.
He spurred on Palestinians in speeches at funerals and demonstrations, condoning the use of force to expel Israel from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
He gained the increasing support of the Palestinian "street" while the more established leaders - Arafat's close allies Mahmoud Abbas and Ahmed Qurei - were seen as part of the old guard.
Correspondents say his conviction only enhances his status among his people as a potential future leader.
Fate sealed
Mr Barghouti was arrested in April 2002 and first appeared in court the following August - charged with the killing of 26 people and belonging to a terrorist organisation.
The leader of Arafat's Fatah movement in the West Bank, he has been closely identified with one of its militant offshoots, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.
The Brigade possibly sealed his fate when it issued a statement in 2002 claiming him as its leader.
Marwan Barghouti has always identified with the grass-roots rather than the leadership
Abdel Bari Atwan
Al-Quds newspaper editor
The group has carried out numerous operations against Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza, and suicide attacks on civilians inside Israel.
Mr Barghouti has denied founding al-Aqsa but has hailed some operations by the group, which has also attacked Israeli military targets.
Throughout his trial, he refused to recognise the legitimacy of the Israeli court.
Insisting he was an elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, his lawyers tried to turn his trial into a trial of Israel and its occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Ultimately he was convicted for murder over the deaths of four Israelis and a Greek monk, as there was insufficient evidence connecting him to the other 21.
Record of resistance
He has been jailed before, and was deported to Jordan, for his role in organising the 1987-92 uprising, while Arafat and his coterie were exiled in Tunisia.
He returned during the Oslo peace process, gaining respect among Palestinians for his scepticism about Israel's commitment to successive land-for-peace deals.
Barghouti says Israel tried to assassinate him
Few members of the first intifada leadership were prominent in Arafat's administration but Mr Barghouti, who first became politically active at Bir Zeit University, is one of a handful to have moved ahead.
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.
Suited to negotiations
"His star really came into its ascendancy after he spoke out against the Palestinian Authority leadership."
While rejecting the Oslo peace process, Mr Barghouti has spoken against attacks on civilians inside Israel, and after his conviction he insisted that suicide attacks were "not correct".
Even from his prison cell, Mr Barghouti has continued to play an important role as a political figure.
He helped negotiate a unilateral truce declared by the main Palestinian militant groups in June 2003 - temporarily easing attacks against Israelis.
That truce collapsed two months later, following a Palestinian suicide bombing and an Israeli air strike that killed a Hamas political leader.
If Israel ever agreed to negotiate with Mr Barghouti he could make use of his Hebrew, which he mastered during a previous prison term. He also speaks fluent English.
He also reportedly counts left-wing Israelis among his friends.
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