Trump says he will be 'making a decision' on Israel's release of Palestinian leader Barghouti

US President says Palestinians 'don't have a leader right now'

A mural of Marwan Barghouti on Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. AP

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he will be "making a decision" on whether he thinks Israel should release Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti from prison.

Barghouti is a long-time political dissident and former Fatah leader jailed in 2004 after being convicted of the murders of five people.

"I am literally being confronted with that question about 15 minutes before you called. That was the question," Mr Trump said during an interview with Time magazine recorded on October 15 and released on Thursday. "That was my question of the day. So I'll be making a decision."

Who is Marwan Barghouti, often dubbed 'Palestine’s Mandela'?

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Mr Trump, speaking about how the Gaza ceasefire had taken shape, was also asked who he thinks the leader of the Palestinians currently is. "They don't have a leader right now, at least a visible leader, and they don't really want to, because every one of those leaders has been shot and killed," he said. "It’s not a hot job."

Barghouti's name was among those requested by Hamas to be released from Israeli jail as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Mr Trump's comments come after Barghouti's son told The Guardian that Palestinian prisoners deported to Egypt had reported the violent treatment his father had been subjected to. He said it was the fourth time his father had been beaten over the past two years.

In August, Barghouti appeared in a video in which the Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened him inside his solitary confinement cell. “You will not defeat us. Whoever targets the people of Israel and kills our sons and women will be erased. You must know this," Mr Ben-Gvir could be heard saying.

Before his conviction more than two decades ago, Barghouti had been active in the Palestinian national liberation movement. He was sentenced to jail for the first time in 1978, spending four years in prison for membership in an armed group.

In prison, he learnt English and Hebrew, finished his schooling and, upon his release in 1983, enrolled in Birzeit University to study history and political science. Barghouti rose to prominence in 1987 during the First Intifada. The same year, he was exiled to Jordan.

After returning to Israel following the signing of the Oslo Accords, he became leader of the Tanzim, Fatah’s armed wing, and played a prominent role during the Second Intifada. In May 2004, he was convicted of five murders and received five life sentences. He denies the charges.