Prisoner Marwan Barghouti (center), Mahmoud Abbas (right) and Ismail Haniyeh (agencies)
The Russian newspaper Izvestia ruled out the return of current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to his position if presidential elections are held, and said that his popularity has declined significantly since the October 7 attack.
Writer Barkhor Dorenko said, in his report in Izvestia, that the most popular politician in Palestine at the present time is Marwan Barghouti, who has been imprisoned for more than 20 years, and whose release the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is striving to release as part of a prisoner exchange with the Israeli side.
He added that despite the continuation of the war on Gaza, some voices began discussing the post-war situation and the issue of forming a unified government.
He stated that achieving political unity requires reaching an agreement between the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) and other forces within the Palestine Liberation Organization that controls authority in the West Bank.
hard thing
He stressed that, given the complex history of the relationship between the factions, achieving this goal is difficult to achieve.
He reported that the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, recently spoke in favor of supporting the process of unifying the Palestinian people, saying, “We are more interested than ever in the unity of the Palestinian people, and restructuring all of its political and governmental components,” and put forward proposals regarding that.
The writer quoted Palestinian political analyst Ayman Al-Raqab as saying that the Palestinians want to form a technocratic government that does not include Palestinian forces, including Fatah and Hamas, and whose tasks will be to reorganize all Palestinian institutions and reforms, and prepare for general elections for the president and parliamentarians.
Al-Raqab stressed that the term of this government ends after the Legislative Council elections are held, which will give confidence to the new government, pointing to the importance of the possible selection of a new Palestinian president capable of working as a unified link between the Palestinians, and to conduct a dialogue with Israel.
Izvestia says that, according to recent opinion polls, three politicians have a chance to lead the Palestinians: Marwan Barghouti, Ismail Haniyeh, and the current President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
Main character
She said that Marwan Barghouti is one of the main figures in Fatah, and is called "the Palestinian Nelson Mandela." He was arrested during the uprising in 2002, and was sentenced to five life sentences and 40 years in prison.
According to the journalist writer specializing in Israeli affairs, Ismat Mansour, Marwan Barghouti enjoys great popularity among the Palestinians, and is highly respected by Hamas and other movements, due to his moderate views. He does not oppose peace agreements with Israel and is ready for dialogue, and against this background, he can be considered a completely suitable figure among the Palestinians. The point of view of implementing the formula of peaceful coexistence between the two countries.
According to analyst Ayman Al-Raqab, Abbas's popularity declined after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, and opinion polls indicate that he will receive only a limited percentage of votes in the potential presidential elections.
He added that in addition to the war on Gaza, the advanced age of the Palestinian President and his health problems play a role in the decline in his popularity, as he put it.
Source: Russian press