Barghouti Forms Separate Electoral List in Blow to Palestinian President

A poster of prominent Palestinian prisoner Marwan al-Barghouti seen in Ramallah. (AFP)
A poster of prominent Palestinian prisoner Marwan al-Barghouti seen in Ramallah. (AFP)
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Barghouti Forms Separate Electoral List in Blow to Palestinian President

A poster of prominent Palestinian prisoner Marwan al-Barghouti seen in Ramallah. (AFP)
A poster of prominent Palestinian prisoner Marwan al-Barghouti seen in Ramallah. (AFP)

Prominent Fatah member, Marwan al-Barghoutyi, who is imprisoned by Israel, announced the formation of a separate electoral list that will run in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The move is a major blow to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the movement’s leadership.

Barghouti instructed his close associates to form a list consisting of Fatah-based figures who were excluded from the movement’s official list, a Fatah source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Fatah supporters and members were surprised by the extent of the rift within the movement during the list formation process, with several figures venting their outrage on social media.

In theory, no one in Fatah could pose a challenge to Abbas, except Barghouti, who is widely popular in the movement, especially among the youth.

Upon the announcement, Barghouti’s name dominated the debate among decision-makers in Ramallah, within Fatah and Palestinian and Israeli media, in the streets and on social media.

Minister of Civilian Affairs and member of the Fatah Central Committee, Hussein al-Sheikh, who is close to Abbas, was earlier granted approval to visit Barghouti in jail to discuss the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

Barghouti had previously bid for the presidency in 2005, running against Abbas, before withdrawing from the race.

Barghouti, 63, hails from the village of Kobar in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He has been imprisoned 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.

The new list limits the movement’s chances of winning the elections, especially after some former Fatah members, including Nasser al-Kidwa, the 67-year-old nephew of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and Mohammed Dahlan, a former senior Fatah official, have already announced that they would be fielding separate lists.



Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general has said, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war in Gaza.

Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case, which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024.

Netanyahu has described probes against Urich and other aides as politically motivated and on Monday said that Urich had not harmed state security. Urich's attorneys said the charges were baseless and that their client's innocence would be proven beyond doubt, reported Reuters.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement late on Sunday that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild.

Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August 2024.

The hostages' deaths sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostages' families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons.

Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the group has said it was Israel's fault no deal had been reached.

Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free if a ceasefire had been reached, according to a defense official at the time.

The Bild article in question was published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's allegations against the militant group over the deadlock.

Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic documents. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.

In his statement on Monday, Netanyahu said Baharav-Miara's announcement was "appalling" and that its timing raised serious questions.

Netanyahu's government has for months been seeking the dismissal of Baharav-Miara. The attorney general, appointed by the previous government, has sparred with Netanyahu's cabinet over the legality of some of its policies.