Palestinian presidential elections set to take place next year for the first time in 20 years could include the participation of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, his son, Arab, told The National.
“There's nothing legally that prevents him from running [in the elections] if he wants to,” Arab said. His father has been in prison in Israeli on terrorism charges since 2002. “It’s his decision to make when the elections are officially announced.”
Mr Barghouti was set to take part in elections that polls suggested he would win in 2021, but the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cancelled the vote, giving Israel's refusal to allow Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem to take part as the reason.
Mr Abbas has been in power for more than two decades and the Palestinian Authority, which he heads, is under growing international pressure to reform, prompting a decree for legislative and presidential elections. Despite his decades-long isolation, Mr Barghouti gained the highest number of votes in elections for the ruling Fatah party's central committee in May.
Recently, an international campaign for the release of Mr Barghouti attracted the support of some of the biggest names from the music and film industry, including 20 actors from the Marvel Universe.
“What triggered this, I think, is a feeling of hopelessness and despair when it comes to Palestine-Israel, and everyone's seeing what the Israeli government is doing,” Arab said, referring to Israel's brutal military crackdowns in the occupied West Bank and continuing occupation of Gaza.
He pointed to the need for democratic renewal and a representative leadership that puts the issues of Palestinian freedom, self-determination and an end to the occupation as the main goals while remaining committed to international legal frameworks. Arab elaborated on why his father would suit such a role and why he understands his ordeal.
“I think that the Nelson Mandela model in South Africa made it easier for people to understand and envision a future where better leadership can really create a difference, and that's what my father represents, and the more people learn about him, the more they believe that this is where the focus should be to achieve justice and peace.”
In prison, Mr Barghouti has been subjected to torture, starvation and solitary confinement, his lawyer and family have said.
Since the Hamas attack and subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza in October 2023, Israel has significantly increased the severity of mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners, denying them food, access to medicine and hygiene and subjecting them to torture and overcrowding, according to rights groups.
It has also allegedly prevented the International Committee for the Red Cross from regularly visiting the more than 10,000 Palestinian detainees languishing in Israeli jails.
Despite all efforts to sideline and silence him, Mr Barghouti remains Palestine's most prominent detainee and has had international support throughout his incarceration. At the time of his trial, Mandela famously said: “What is happening to Barghouti is exactly the same as what happened to me.”
