The ‘Palestinian Mandela’ remains in an Israeli prison
Marwan al-Barghouthi, often called the ‘Mandela of Palestine’, was imprisoned 23 years ago. His release could unify Palestinian political factions. So Israel won’t countenance it.
Aseel Mafarjeh in the West Bank
As part of last week’s ceasefire deal, Israel agreed to free 1,950 Palestinian captives, including 250 on death row. Some of them have already been bussed to Gaza and the West Bank. But it ignored the captive at the top of the Palestinian demand list: Marwan al-Barghouthi.
“They fear he could become the next Palestinian leader,” says Sari Orabi, a Ramallah-based political analyst who has followed the recent negotiations.
Barghouthi, 66, has been in prison for 23 years, serving five life sentences. His name is more divisive in Israel-Palestine politics than questions of military withdrawal or reconstruction aid. The Israeli government calls his release an absolute red line.
Barghouthi was born in 1959 in Kobar, a village northwest of Ramallah, and joined Fatah, the dominant Palestinian nationalist movement, at age 15. By 1977, Israel had arrested him for the first time. He would be arrested again and again throughout the 1980s, spending years in administrative detention.
In the bloody Second Intifada of 2000, Barghouthi led Fatah’s armed wing in the West Bank. Israeli forces captured him in 2002 and he was sentenced to five life terms plus 40 years. He refused to recognise the Israeli court’s jurisdiction, calling it a tribunal of an occupying power. He has been in prison ever since.
Barghouthi’s long imprisonment has made him a symbol larger than the political positions he actually holds. Palestinians and international observers labelled him the “Palestinian Mandela”. Like Nelson Mandela, he maintains that armed struggle is justified against occupation, but is also open to an eventual negotiated peace.
What his freedom could threaten
In the latest captive-swap talks, far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – partners in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition – extracted a commitment from Netanyahu that Barghouthi would not be released under any circumstances. They cited “security concerns”, but their real fear is political.
Internal Palestinian politics is currently paralysed. The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah in the West Bank, which is reliant on foreign funding and Israeli security coordination, has lost popular legitimacy over the years. Its president, 89-year-old Mahmoud Abbas, who has led the Fatah political party since 2004, cancelled elections scheduled for 2021, fearing Hamas might win.
Hamas, which ran Gaza, had local legitimacy. But it is currently hobbled: the war dismantled its leadership and global powers now want it excluded from any post-war governance.
While other political figures calculated, compromised (or failed to), and damaged their reputations, Barghouthi was locked away. He doesn’t have their baggage. Opinion polls consistently show him as the most popular Palestinian political figure across all factions and territories. His release would insert a wildcard into the Palestinian political scene: a unifying figure to bridge the deep divide between Gaza and the West Bank; between supporters of Hamas and Fatah, the main political party backing the Palestinian Authority.
That unification would end the Palestinian political fragmentation that benefits Israel.
But it could also come at the expense of Palestinian leaders who’ve accommodated themselves to the current stalemate. Barghouthi could eclipse Abbas and fracture Fatah, splitting those loyal to the Palestinian Authority establishment from those demanding renewal.
Even Hamas’ hold might be eroded. Barghouthi has credibility with supporters of armed resistance and his advocacy for diplomatic engagement might allow him to build coalitions that Hamas leaders cannot.
No one – not Israel, not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas – can predict or control what would happen if Barghouthi were to walk free tomorrow.
Most of the likely scenarios would unsettle one or all of them. But keeping him locked away keeps an idea alive at home and abroad: that unity – and perhaps real peace – may depend on the Palestinian Mandela who has yet to walk free.
Nice to see a reasonably well, balanced comment. Where it comes to Israel in the Palestinians reason goes right out the window as soon as the names are mentioned.