RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel has excluded Marwan Barghouti, widely regarded as the most popular and potentially unifying Palestinian leader, from the list of prisoners it intends to free under the Gaza ceasefire prisoner exchange, officials and analysts said.
A list of roughly 250 prisoners posted Friday on the Israeli government’s official website did not include Barghouti, who is serving multiple life sentences after his 2004 conviction in attacks that killed five people. It was not immediately clear whether the published list is final. Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk said the group still insists on the release of Barghouti and other high-profile figures and that discussions with mediators were ongoing.
Under the ceasefire arrangement, Hamas is to release dozens of Israeli hostages, while Israel will free some 250 convicted Palestinians and about 1,700 people seized from Gaza in the past two years and held without charge. Many of those on the Israeli list are members of Hamas and the Fatah faction arrested during the Second Intifada in the 2000s; most were convicted of involvement in shootings, bombings or other attacks that killed or attempted to kill Israeli civilians, settlers, or soldiers. More than half of those to be released will be sent to Gaza or exiled outside the Palestinian territories, the list showed.
Named prisoners slated for release include Iyad Abu al-Rub, an Islamic Jihad commander convicted of orchestrating suicide bombings in Israel from 2003–2005 that killed 13 people; Samir Abu Naama, a Fatah member arrested in 1986 and the oldest and longest-imprisoned person on the list at 64; and Mohammed Abu Qatish, who was 16 when arrested in 2022 and convicted of an attempted stabbing.
Israel has long viewed Barghouti as a terrorist leader. He was convicted of murder for his alleged role in attacks linked to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and was given five life sentences after refusing to recognize the court’s authority and declining to mount a defense at trial. While imprisoned, Barghouti also registered a parliamentary list for elections that were later canceled and led a 40-day hunger strike in 2017 with more than 1,500 prisoners demanding better treatment.
Barghouti, 66, is widely seen among Palestinians as a consensus figure and a potential successor to President Mahmoud Abbas. Some Palestinians compare him to Nelson Mandela for his stature across political divides. Analysts warn that his release could strengthen Palestinian institutions and present a political challenge to both Israel and Abbas’s administration.
Mouin Rabbani, a nonresident fellow at Democracy for the Arab World Now, said Barghouti is “seen as a credible national leader, someone who can lead the Palestinians in a way Abbas as consistently failed to,” and that Israel is “keen to avoid” such an outcome. Eyal Zisser, vice rector of Tel Aviv University, said Barghouti’s popularity could bolster Palestinian institutions, a prospect Israel’s right-wing government opposes.
Israeli authorities also point to security concerns and experience as reasons to reject Barghouti’s release. Officials recall the 2011 exchange that freed senior Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who later played a central role in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and went on to lead Hamas before being killed by Israeli forces last year. Israel fears a repeat of history if senior militants or powerful political figures are returned to prominence.
Barghouti has described his own stance on armed struggle and politics in stark terms. In a 2002 Washington Post editorial, he wrote, “I am not a terrorist, but neither am I a pacifist.” In August, he was publicly admonished by Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir in a video posted from inside a prison, in which Ben-Gvir warned the state would confront “anyone who acts against the country and ‘wipe them out.’”
The debate over prisoner releases highlights the deep divide in perceptions: Israelis generally view the freed prisoners as convicted terrorists, while many Palestinians see thousands held by Israel as political prisoners or fighters resisting occupation. As negotiations proceed, the exclusion of Barghouti is likely to remain a central sticking point between Hamas, mediators, and Israel.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
- EDGARDO HERNAL
- EDGARDO HERNAL
- EDGARDO HERNAL
- EDGARDO HERNAL
