On a roundabout in the centre of Ramallah, the Palestinians’ political capital, young men hang out around a steel structure guarded by plastic lions. Aged between 18 and 30 and dressed in leather jackets and jeans, they should be the kind of voters that the jailed Palestinian militant, Marwan Barghouti, can rely on in next month’s election.
Mr Barghouti, the former leader of Fatah youth, announced on Wednesday that he would, after all, be running for president of the Palestinian Authority from his Israeli prison cell, where he is serving five life sentences.
The images of Mr Barghouti, shackled and defiant after his conviction, helped make him the most popular Palestinian leader after the late Yasser Arafat.
Yesterday, however, the most popular candidate by far among the young men in Ramallah’s Manara Square was the former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, 69, (also known as Abu Mazen), rather than the 45-year-old hero of the resistance, Mr Barghouti.
In a straw poll of 15, seven said they would vote for Abu Mazen, three for Mr Barghouti, one for an Islamic candidate, one for a leftwing candidate and one for an independent. Two had yet to make up their minds.
Nidal al Huti, 25, said the Palestinians were losing every day. ”We need someone who can offer a better situation. Abu Mazen has the support of the Americans and he is the only one who can improve our lives.”
Ahmad Abu Arqub, 21, said he would not vote for any of the candidates. ”I want a president who cares about our lives and the problems we face. Abu Mazen and Barghouti and the rest only care about their position in Fatah and satisfying the Israelis. I’d prefer an Islamic candidate. They might change our laws and that would begin improvement.”
Campaigners for Mr Barghouti sought yesterday to explain why he had decided to stand as an independent after saying last week that he would support Abu Mazen as the official Fatah candidate. Saeb Nmr, the head of the Free Barghouti Campaign, said Mr Barghouti had been pressured into standing down.
”He then realised he was witnessing a celebration of the end of the period of Yasser Arafat and the theory that his end will give peace a chance. But this analysis lays all the blame at the feet of the intifada and Arafat and clears [the Israeli prime minister Ariel] Sharon of all his war crimes. Barghouti renounces all this.”
Mr Barghouti’s candidature is based, his supporters say, on a middle way between the Hamas hardliners, who want only resistance, and moderates such as Abu Mazen, who reject resistance and emphasise negotiation.
According to his supporters, Mr Barghouti wants peace but insists that resistance — either violent or non-violent — must continue as long as there is occupation. In the same way that Israel has negotiated while it continues its occupation of Palestinian land, Mr Barghouti advocates negotiation with Israel at the same time as resistance to occupation.
Most of the Palestinian political establishment are angry at his decision to stand, fearing that he will cause divisions within Fatah. But others feel that, by standing and losing, Mr Barghouti will give Abu Mazen much-needed credibility.
A source close to Abu Mazen said of Mr Barghouti: ”Once again, Fatah has become polarised around generations and not politics because there is little separating Abu Mazen and Barghouti politically.”
One source close to the Palestinian political elite said Mr Barghouti had taken a ”stupid, uncalculated risk”. Another said: ”If he had waited, he could have become something, but he has played his cards early and badly.”
But Ahmad Ghnaim, a Palestinian Authority minister, told the Guardian on Thursday that he would be backing Mr Barghouti’s presidential run. ”He was never given a chance to represent Fatah. At the revolutionary council meeting, someone said, ‘Abu Mazen is our candidate,’ and 103 people voted for, and I and one other voted against.”
In a letter to Mr Ghnaim this week, Mr Barghouti wrote: ”I will run to defend the resistance and the intifada and the history of Fatah.”
Mr Ghnaim said Mr Barghouti was offering the Palestinian people a democratic option. ”They can choose the intifada and vote for Barghouti. If they choose differently we will accept that.” — Guardian Unlimited Â