From right Ahmed Saadat - Marwan Barghouti - Abdullah Barghouti (French)
Israeli media said on Thursday that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) insists that the upcoming prisoner and detainee exchange deal include the release of 3 prominent Palestinian leaders from inside Israeli prisons.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the three are: Marwan Barghouti, a member of the Central Committee of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), Ahmed Saadat, secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and Abdullah Barghouti, Hamas leader Abdullah Barghouti, according to Anadolu Agency.
Palestinian public opinion polls indicate that Marwan Barghouti, 64, who has been detained since 2002 and sentenced to five life sentences and 5 years, is the most popular among Fatah leaders for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority after President Mahmoud Abbas.
Yedioth Ahronoth also promised that the release of Marwan Barghouti "has the potential to change the face of the Palestinian Authority."
Yedioth Ahronoth saw the release of Marwan Barghouti as "capable of changing the face of the Palestinian Authority" (Europa - Archive)
Despite Barghouti's arrest and sentencing, he had a prominent presence on the Palestinian scene from behind the prison walls, as he was the one who prepared the agreement of the Palestinian factions in 2003 to stop military operations for three months, in exchange for the occupation stopping the assassinations and raids it carries out, and this step was the beginning of his continuous presence from inside his prison.
Ahmad Sa'adat was arrested by the occupation in December 2008 and sentenced to 30 years in prison for involvement in the 2001 killing of former Israeli minister Rehabab Zeevi.
Hamas leader Abdullah Barghouti is currently serving a 67-time life sentence, unprecedented in the history of Israeli courts, and the occupation accuses him of manufacturing explosive devices that "killed 66 Israelis and injured 500 others."
Israel rejected the three leaders as part of the 2011 Wafa al-Ahrar swap deal, which included the exchange of soldier Gilad Shalit for more than 1000,<> Palestinian prisoners.
Anadolu noted that the Israeli government did not comment on this Yedioth Ahronoth report, regarding Hamas's insistence on releasing the three names.
On Wednesday, Hamas said that the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in the Egyptian capital Cairo at the head of a delegation from the movement's leadership, in light of the continuation of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
Agence France-Presse quoted a source in the movement as saying that the discussions in Cairo would deal with "stopping the aggression and war in preparation for a prisoner exchange deal, ending the siege on Gaza, the entry of aid, and the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Strip.
Source : Al Jazeera + Anatolia