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Palestinians Anticipate Barghouti's Official Decision to Run for Presidential Elections

Palestinians spending a Friday evening on the beach in Gaza City (EPA)
Palestinians spending a Friday evening on the beach in Gaza City (EPA)
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Palestinians Anticipate Barghouti's Official Decision to Run for Presidential Elections

Palestinians spending a Friday evening on the beach in Gaza City (EPA)
Palestinians spending a Friday evening on the beach in Gaza City (EPA)

Palestinians are anticipating the announcement of prominent Fatah leader Marwan al-Barghouti to run for the upcoming presidential elections.

Barghouti, who is detained in an Israeli prison, has become the talk of town. He is seen as an influential figure and a strong contender against any other figure proposed by Fatah.

Barghouti did not yet announce his candidacy. His lawyer and family did not make official statements over the matter either.

However, news reported by his close associates, pictures published by his wife on social media, as well as support voiced by several activists were clear indications that he will run for the upcoming elections.

Also, Member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council Hatem Abdel Qader said on Saturday that Barghouti will run for the presidential elections but will not run for the legislative elections, scheduled for May 22.

Barghouti expressed his position frankly during his meeting in jail with Member of the Fatah Central Committee Hussein al-Sheikh on Thursday, Abdel Qader noted.

He supported the unified list that would be chosen democratically and transparently and which has an agenda capable of leading the Palestinians in the next stage, the Fatah official added.

Sheikh’s visit to Barghouti will not be the last, he affirmed, pointing out that a Fatah Central Committee delegation will visit him again.

Sheikh, who is close to Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, visited Barghouti to discuss the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

He was granted exceptional permission by Israel, given the current security and health conditions posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Abbas sent Sheikh to persuade Barghouti against running for the presidential polls.

It is expected that the movement would offer Barghouti to lead its electoral list in the parliamentary elections or perhaps even help in selecting its candidates in exchange for abandoning his presidential ambitions.

But his associates confirm that he was determined to run for the presidential elections this year, viewing himself as a “rightful” candidate, or because it is his only way out of jail.

He is currently serving a life sentence after Israel convicted him of planning deadly attacks against Israelis during the Second Intifada.

In theory, no one in Fatah could pose a challenge to Abbas, except for Barghouti, who is widely supported by the movement, especially its youth.

He has been detained by Israel since 2002, serving five life sentences, for leading Fatah’s military wing and killing Israelis during the Second Intifada that erupted in 2000.

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Hezbollah Fires about 250 Rockets, Other Projectiles into Israel in Heaviest Barrage in Weeks

Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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Hezbollah Fires about 250 Rockets, Other Projectiles into Israel in Heaviest Barrage in Weeks

Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in one of the group's heaviest barrages in months, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with ceasefire efforts to halt the all-out war.

Some of the rockets reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an army center killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded 18 others in the southwest between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon's military said.  

The Israeli military expressed regret, saying that the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah and that the military's operations are directed solely against the fighters.

Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

Hezbollah fires rockets after strikes on Beirut  

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes at Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several top commanders.

The Israeli military said about 250 projectiles were fired Sunday, with some intercepted.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people, including a 60-year old man in severe condition from rocket fire on northern Israel, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast in the central city of Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there.  

In Haifa, a rocket hit a residential building that police said was in danger of collapsing.

The Palestine Red Crescent reported 13 injuries it said were caused by an interceptor missile that struck several homes in Tulkarem in the West Bank. It was unclear whether the injuries and damage elsewhere were caused by rockets or interceptors.

Sirens wailed again in central and northern Israel hours later.

Israeli airstrikes without warning on Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Smoke billowed above Beirut again Sunday with new strikes. Israel's military said it targeted Hezbollah command centers in the southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, where the group has a strong presence.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardment in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

EU envoy calls for pressure to reach a truce  

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week.

The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was "pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.”

Josep Borrell spoke after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group.

Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208 million) to assist the Lebanese military, which would deploy additional forces to the south.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the monthlong 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol with the presence of UN peacekeepers.