Military

DATE=11/26/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= PALESTINIAN POLITICS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-320702

BYLINE= SONJA PACE

DATELINE= JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: Palestinian Leaders Seek Unity Ahead of Presidential Elections

INTRO: Palestinian leaders scrambled Friday to avoid a rift within their ranks as they prepare for January 9th general elections to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat. Pressure mounted on Marwan Barghouti, the charismatic leader of a younger generation of activists, to drop any plans to run in the upcoming vote. VOA's Sonja Pace reports from Jerusalem.

TEXT: Choosing a successor to Yasser Arafat became more complicated this week when 45-year-old Marwan Barghouti sent out word that he was going to run. He could not make the announcement himself because he is in an Israeli jail serving five life sentences for terrorism.

But the main issue for Palestinian leaders is not that he is in jail but what his candidacy might mean for stability as Palestinians choose a successor to Yasser Arafat.

Marwan Barghouti is immensely popular among Palestinians and has the support of many of the younger members of the ruling Fatah faction.

When news broke that a Barghouti candidacy might be imminent, Palestinian cabinet minister Kadoura Fares rushed to Nafha prison outside the southern Israeli city of Be'ersheva to meet with him. According to Palestinian officials, the message he brought was clear - don't run, don't threaten the unity of the party and its success in the elections.

All those factors are at stake in the current political process, says Palestinian sociologist Nader Sa'id from Ramallah's Birzeit University.

/// SA'ID ACT ///

"The two challenges that we have now in terms of politics - one is within Fatah itself and it is mostly the people (who were) very much around Arafat. That will be their own struggle, it will be their own fight. The other challenge is if Hamas and the Islamists now feel that there is a vacuum and it is their opportunity to increase their power, increase their popularity."

/// END ACT ///

The potential rift within Fatah is between members of the old guard, those close to Yasser Arafat, who came back with him from exile and who have run things ever since, and the younger generation - whose members led two uprisings against Israel from within the Palestinian territories and who feel they should have more say.

Mahmoud Abbas represents the old guard, Marwan Barghouti the new.

In what may be an effort to placate the younger generation, Mr. Abbas is reported to have promised to meet one of their long-standing demands that a general party conference be held in which all factions can compete for seats on the important committees.

Some officials have said a Barghouti candidacy would weaken the party ahead of the elections and could split the vote to benefit the more radical Islamic parties, such as Hamas.

Another concern is that a Barghouti candidacy could also derail chances for resuming peace talks with Israel. Israeli officials have vowed they would not release Mr. Barghouti from jail and even if he were to run and win an election he is not a man the Israelis would want to deal with. Both Israel and the United States have indicated a readiness to deal with Mahmoud Abbas.

NEB/SP/MEM/FC