Senior Fatah member and arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is currently serving five life sentences plus an additional 40 years in Israeli prison for his involvement in lethal terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada, is leaning toward declaring himself a candidate for president of the Palestinian Authority if PA President Mahmoud Abbas were to remove himself from the race, according to reports that ran in the Palestinian media on Tuesday.
The reports quoted a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council, Hatem Abdel Qader, who also holds the Jerusalem Affairs portfolio in the Fatah movement.
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"Marwan Barghouti is leaning toward declaring his candidacy for president of the Palestinian National Authority," Qader said, speaking to the Al-Quds network.
Qader explained that if Abbas decides not to run, Barghouti was Fatah's preferred candidate for president.
"We must wait until we know where Abbas stands on running for president, especially since he has already declared that he did not intend to run in the next election," Qader said, noting that a few of Abbas' associates had said that the PA president did in fact plan to run for reelection.
Qader went on to say that Barghouti was waiting for Abbas to announce his decision.
The Fatah official said that according to law, Barghouti was entitled to stand for election. "We hope the Fatah movement will have one candidate," Qader emphasized.
According to reports, Qader also touched on allegations that Barghouti had ties to another Abbas rival, Mohammed Dahlan.
"Marwan is a commander, a leader, and a fighter. The alliances he could create could be in the interests of the Palestinian people, and we have complete faith in him," he said.
Other recent reports said that Barghouti had been offered the option of running for head of the Fatah list in the Palestinian Legislative Council.
