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.
