After spending 24 years behind bars, senior Fatah political leader Marwan Barghouti continues to command significant support among Palestinians largely because of the “myth” surrounding him and what he has come to symbolize, Dr. Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
Serving five life sentences for murder and membership in a terrorist organization, Barghouti has been absent from Palestinian society for nearly a quarter of a century. He has not witnessed firsthand the COVID-19 pandemic, how technological advances have changed the Palestinian economy, or how events have reshaped Palestinian society since the October 7 massacre.
Despite his long absence from public life, polls conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) have consistently shown Barghouti as the leading choice among Palestinians for the next president of the Palestinian Authority.
In its latest poll, published early in August, the PCPSR found that Barghouti would receive 54% of the vote, putting him well ahead of Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya, while PA President Mahmoud Abbas would receive 14%.
In a poll conducted 10 months earlier, Barghouti was also the most popular choice for president, receiving 49% of the vote.
Asked how it was possible that a man with limited communication with the Palestinian people could enjoy such popularity, Milshtein said Qassam Barghouti, one of the imprisoned Fatah leader’s sons, once explained to him that Barghouti’s absence allowed his popularity to grow.
People don't know Marwan the person; they admire Barghouti, the myth
“He told me, ‘Listen, people do not really know Marwan the person, but they admire Barghouti the myth,” he said. “He represents, for most Palestinians, mainly the young ones, all the symbols, dreams, and aspirations they support. He is quite clean. He is not corrupt like other senior figures in the PA. He represents the prisoners. He represents the resistance, the muqawama [resistance]. He represents a lot of things that most Palestinians are affiliated with.”
Milshtein suggested another reason for Barghouti’s popularity is the poor perception of the alternatives. The PA has failed in its promises to weed out corruption, Abbas continues to hold onto the presidency despite his term expiring in 2009, and the Palestinian economy continues to struggle.
State employees have been paid a fraction of their wages for a year, PA schools run part-time, and hospitals have struggled to operate at normal, full capacity in the West Bank.
“Their basic image is related to corruption and other negative phenomena,” Milshtein said. “So, I even assess that if tomorrow there were elections in the Palestinian arena for the presidency, not the coming elections to the parliament, I’m almost 100% sure that he would be the president.”
Governing from inside a prison cell would be a 'headache' for the PA, Israel
He said Qassem Barghouti had once told him it would hardly matter to Palestinians if their president were governing the West Bank from inside an Israeli prison cell.
Such a possibility would be a “headache” for both the PA and Israel if it ever materialized, Milshtein said.
Beyond “the fact that he doesn’t really know what the Palestinian street looks like and what the basic changes have been regarding the economy, society, culture and, of course, politics,” Israel would not be inclined to release a prisoner serving multiple life sentences who would be likely to incite another intifada, he said.
Barghouti’s support extends beyond Fatah. During the hostage-ceasefire negotiations in 2024 and 2025, Hamas had pushed for his release as part of a deal, according to reports.
While Palestinian prisoners from multiple factions were released as part of the agreements, few were singled out and discussed as prominently as Barghouti.
After nearly a quarter of a century in detention, Barghouti has had extensive interactions with Hamas operatives and leaders, Milshtein said, adding that these interactions contribute to his cross-factional popularity.
In 2006, Barghouti co-authored the National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners alongside officials from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, he said. These interactions helped build a degree of support for Barghouti within Hamas’s camp, he added.
Another more calculated reason was that Barghouti could help Hamas project an image of national unity among Palestinians, Milshtein said.
“Hamas’s basic assumption was that if Marwan Barghouti were released because of Hamas, because of a military operation that Hamas promoted, maybe he would feel that he owes them,” he said. “These conditions could make the idea of reconciliation, and maybe Hamas’s involvement in the Palestinian regime, easier.”