Imprisoned Palestinian Does Well in Primary Vote

Imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, together with several wanted militants, made a strong showing in primaries held by the ruling Fatah political movement, according to preliminary results released Saturday.

Although results from several West Bank districts were sketchy and alone will not determine the slate of candidates fielded by Fatah in January’s elections for the Palestinian parliament, they suggested that many of the movement’s supporters were distancing themselves from corruption-tainted associates of the late Yasser Arafat who now control the Palestinian government.

The show of strength by militants such as Barghouti, who is serving five life terms in connection with a series of terrorist attacks, drew expressions of concern from the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom was quoted Saturday by Israel Radio as saying that Barghouti would not be released from prison, regardless of whether he is elected to parliament.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has positioned himself as a force for reform within Fatah, the movement Arafat led for decades. But many of Abbas’ contemporaries are strongly linked, in the eyes of the Palestinian public, with the graft and inefficiency that plagued Arafat’s administration.

The longtime Palestinian leader died just over a year ago, at age 75.

Primaries were held Friday in five of the largest West Bank districts: Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, Bethlehem and Tubas. In Ramallah, the preliminary count indicated that Barghouti had captured the largest share, about 25,000 of 40,000 votes.

With the Palestinian elections just two months away, there is still internal debate about the slate of candidates Fatah will field. The primaries being held in West Bank and Gaza localities will help determine the makeup of the Fatah ticket, but Abbas and other senior leaders will have considerable leeway in adding names to the list.

Abbas needs to maintain the backing of longtime party faithful, but is also mindful that Fatah’s main electoral challenger, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, has a reputation as being free of corruption.

Some of Fatah’s strongest candidates in January’s parliamentary elections could be members of its “young guard.” The 46-year-old Barghouti, like many other Fatah leaders of his generation, made a name for himself during the Palestinian uprising that broke out more than five years ago.

Fiery and charismatic, he managed to make an impression on the Israeli public as well, with courtroom speeches delivered in the fluent Hebrew he had learned in prison. Before the violence broke out, Barghouti had been a proponent of Palestinian ties with Israel, and had cultivated personal friendships with many Israeli political figures, some of whom continue to lobby for his release.

In all, more than a quarter-million registered Fatah voters in the West Bank and about 200,000 in the Gaza Strip were choosing among nearly 500 candidates vying to run for the 132-seat parliament.

Voting was postponed in some municipalities, including the West Bank towns of Hebron, Tulkarm and Kalkilya, as well as all the municipalities of Gaza. More balloting is scheduled over the next week.

Even where voting took place, the results were clouded by allegations of improper balloting procedures.

In Nablus, where the top vote-getters included the local governor, Mahmoud Aloul, and a fugitive with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Nasser Jumaa, more than a dozen candidates challenged the results.

In the northern West Bank town of Jenin, another militant with Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Jamal Abu Rab, was among the winners, according to the preliminary results. The militant group claims allegiance to Fatah.

The primary results were disclosed as Palestinians celebrated a milestone -- being able to legally leave the Gaza Strip for the first time in 38 years without passing through Israeli border controls.

The Rafah crossing to Egypt was formally inaugurated Friday and opened to travelers Saturday.

“When the Israelis controlled the crossing, I would travel to Egypt only once a year, and it was a very tough crossing -- hours of waiting and sometimes days,” said Jamal Shaar, a 55-year-old Palestinian merchant from Rafah. “Now I will go two or three times a month.”

Special correspondent Maher Abukhater in Ramallah contributed to this report.