RAMALLAH, West Bank, 7 December 2004 — Jailed intifada leader Marwan Barghouti was under growing pressure to pull out of the race for Palestinian Authority president as polls yesterday showed him running neck and neck with PLO Chairman Mahmud Abbas.
Wednesday’s last-minute decision by the Fatah West Bank leader to participate in the Jan. 9 election angered and infuriated the dominant Palestinian faction, which had already chosen Abbas as its candidate to replace the late Yasser Arafat. Barghouti is running as an independent.
The overall leader of Fatah, Faruq Qaddumi, said Barghouti would be thrown out of the organization if he did not drop out of the contest.
“Any member who deliberately goes against decisions is considered to have resigned, and will be struck off, whatever his rank,” Qaddumi said at his base in Tunis.
“Marwan is one of our heroes,” he added. “We hope he won’t break the Palestinian consensus, and won’t destroy his reputation.”
Sources close to Barghouti said there was extensive arm-twisting from the Fatah leadership in a bid to persuade Barghouti to renounce his bid.
“There are contacts from all levels inside Fatah calling on Marwan to retreat from his nomination but Marwan has announced he is running,” said Ahmed Ghneim, a senior member of the Fatah higher committee, which is headed by Barghouti.
Another junior minister who is close to Barghouti, confirmed that Fatah’s leadership was trying to persuade Barghouti to reverse his position. “We have received a message from Marwan’s lawyer that he is still sticking to his position but there is a huge amount of pressure for Marwan to withdraw from the contest,” he said on condition of anonymity. There has been little sign so far, however, of another change of heart by Barghouti who had said only five days before his bombshell announcement that he would sit out the contest.
Other sources said Barghouti had written a letter to supporters saying that he was determined to pursue what he termed a new intifada through the ballot box, fighting for “real reform and real democracy” and regarded his initial announcement as a mistake.
The 45-year-old Barghouti, who was handed five life sentences by an Israeli court in June for his role in deadly attacks, is regarded as the inspiration behind the Palestinian uprising. In contrast, the 69-year-old Abbas has been a consistent critic of the militarization of the Palestinian struggle.
While his moderate and low-key approach has not inspired widespread public support, there are signs that a public grown weary of the violence of the last four years is warming to his approach.
In the first polls to be conducted since the nominations closed Wednesday, two showed Abbas and Barghouti were too close to call while a third gave Abbas an 18-point lead.
Forty-six percent of respondents would vote for Barghouti if elections were held today and 44 percent for Abbas, a survey conducted by Bir Zeit University’s Development Studies Program revealed.
Another poll undertaken by the Ramallahbased Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 40 percent would cast their ballot for Abbas and 38 percent for Barghouti.
The margin of error means that both polls are considered as statistical dead heats. The third poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion found 40 percent backing Abbas while 22 would vote for Barghouti. Barghouti had by far the largest popularity rating among Palestinian politicians apart from Arafat before his death on Nov. 11.
