RAMALLAH, 19 April 2003 — A year after his arrest in an Israeli commando raid, calls for his release echo almost daily in the Palestinian street and media. For some Palestinians, Marwan Barghouthi has become their Nelson Mandela.
Israel regards the street leader of the Palestinian uprising as a top “terrorist”. He is now on trial charged with multiple counts of murder arising from Palestinian attacks which killed 26 Israelis in a revolt that broke out after peace talks stalled in 2000.
Barghouthi, 43, has denied any role in violence by armed militants, calling himself a solely political leader. He has rejected Israel’s authority to put him on trial, saying Israel’s grip on the West Bank and Gaza Strip should be in the dock instead.
Palestinians believe his imprisonment has put him in line to succeed President Yasser Arafat if he is ever freed, just as Mandela became South Africa’s first black-majority leader after the demise of the apartheid system that jailed him for 27 years.
Arafat’s 40-year grip on Palestinian politics has been shaken by a campaign, backed by parliament and the public, to implant democratic reform and purge corruption. US mediators want Arafat sidelined to revive peace talks with Israel.
Barghouthi was seen by many Israelis before the uprising as a Palestinian moderate, a man who frequently met Israeli politicians and peace activists in calling for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza which would co-exist with Israel.
Stocky, fiery and articulate with fluency in Hebrew and English, Barghouthi headed the West Bank wing of Arafat’s Fatah faction and was second only to the elderly president in Palestinian popularity polls before his arrest.
Analysts believe his standing now equals that of President Arafat and eclipses that of Mahmoud Abbas, who is the prime minister designate for the reform drive but has scant popular following after — like most Arafat associates — spending decades in exile abroad.
“Marwan already had high credibility among Palestinians but as a political prisoner his popularity has surged more than ever before to the level of a Nelson Mandela here,” said Qaddora Fares, a lawmaker who joined Barghouthi’s talks with the Israelis.
Barghouthi’s wife Fadwa has struggled to look after their four children since his arrest but says she is comforted by his increasing folk hero status among Palestinians.
“He’s my husband and father of my children before he’s a hero like Mandela. But my morale is boosted by his people’s love for him,” she said in Ramallah, one of seven West Bank cities reoccupied by Israel last year after a series of suicide attacks.
Some Palestinian analysts believe it is too early to compare Barghouthi with Mandela.
“I understand why people refer to Barghouthi as a Mandela because they feel the bitterness of defeat at this time,” said commentator Mahdi Abdul-Hadi.
“They regard him as a symbol of resistance and steadfastness against Israel, like Mandela (resisted white repression). But it’s still a reflection of people’s wishful thinking.”
Still, televised scenes of a handcuffed Barghouthi in court, sparring with Israeli prosecution witnesses and spectators who lost loved ones in militant violence, have turned him into the Palestinians’ leading icon of resistance to occupation.
Palestinian newspapers run almost daily advertisements calling for his release. Posters of Barghouthi adorn streets and squares of Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza.
Campaigners hold weekly rallies pressing for his freedom, carrying posters linking Barghouthi to Mandela — who has condemned the use of violence by both sides in the conflict while calling on Israel to give Barghouthi a fair trial.
On the first anniversary of his arrest this week, Al-Ayyam newspaper carried a full-page photo showing Barghouthi in brown prison garb raising his manacled hands with a caption from one of his statements: “If my imprisonment is the price of the freedom for my people, then I am ready to pay this price”.
To many Palestinians, Barghouthi’s trial is an attempt to prosecute the Palestinian cause for statehood. Palestinian, Israeli and European lawyers are defending him.
Before his arrest, he spoke frequently at rallies to protest against occupation. With his trademark blue jeans and T-shirt, he resembled ordinary Palestinians who complain about the corruption and remoteness of veteran Palestinian leaders.
Barghouthi tried to get militant factions to agree a cease-fire to allow fresh dialogue with Israel, Palestinian officials and analysts say. Israeli leaders say internal Palestinian truce talks have never been serious.
