The eleventh hour candidacy of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti for the upcoming Palestinian presidential elections has exposed the rift within the movement's ranks.
Barghouti, 45, who had initially supported official Fatah candidate and head of the PLO's Executive Committee Mahmoud Abbas, last week retracted his support and, through his wife and his lawyer, announced he would be running for president.
The chairman of Fatah's West Bank branch, Barghouti is currently serving five life terms in an Israeli jail for his militant approach following the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada in 2000.
Motaz Dajani, a senior member of Fatah's bureau in Gaza City, explains that Barghouti's candidacy was not approved by the dominant party's members, thus his nomination as an independent candidate.
"Marwan Barghouti's move is a move against the movement's official candidate Mahmoud Abbas," Dajani told the Middle East Times. "With his nomination he goes against Abbas and that might lead to his expulsion from Fatah," he added.
Some commentators believe that the nomination of Barghouti was meant as a referendum on whether Palestinians should continue on the armed path of the current four-year-old intifada. Barghouti is seen as a proponent of this path, unlike Abbas, who has been an outspoken critic of Palestinian militarization since he held the post of Palestinian prime minister.
Saad Nimr, who heads the campaign to release Barghouti from prison, told the Middle East Times over the phone from Ramallah that Barghouti was particularly upset with recent comments by Abbas, commonly known as Abu Mazen, and by Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, suggesting that they favored collecting weapons from Palestinian militant groups and indicating "that there might be a campaign against the [Palestinian] resistance".
Surprisingly, many leaders in Fatah's armed wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, believe that Barghouti should resign from the movement.
Abu Mohammed, the media spokesman for the Al Aqsa Brigade, said that by nominating himself against the movement's chosen candidate, Barghouti chose to be excluded from Fatah and that to save what little face is left for him, he should resign.
"Barghouti took a risky chance based on his record of struggle, but his plan backfired at him when the political leaders blasted him and accused him of trying to split Fatah. I believe he can only resign to prevent his Fatah comrades from casting him out," Abu Mohammed said.
Even those who still support Barghouti prefer to back Abu Mazen's nomination rather than go against the movement's mainstream opinion.
"Fatah has spoken as far as I am concerned and it chose Abu Mazen as its candidate," said Mohammed Horani, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Palestinian pollsters also believe that Barghouti would not beat Abu Mazen in the elections, especially with the mainstream elements of Fatah depicting him as a 'rogue member' who has defied generations of struggle and who has jeopardized the movement's position.
"Although he still gets the second or third place in popularity polls, Marwan Barghouti cannot muster enough votes to win the elections," said Ayoub Mustafa, pointing out that it is logical for the people not to choose a president who cannot move around.
Standing next to a large mural in Gaza City of a cuffed Barghouti wearing a brown Israeli prison uniform and flashing the V-sign for victory, graphic designer Mohammed Al Jarrah says that although he appreciates Barghouti's history of struggle and leadership, he will vote for Abu Mazen in the upcoming elections.
"I'm not a member of Fatah, but I will vote for Abu Mazen, because from watching TV I can say that the world has already cast its vote, and it's for Abu Mazen."