Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi will not run in the Palestinian presidential election, an official claimed today.
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| Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi flashes a victory sign in Tel Aviv District Court last June |
Palestinian cabinet minister Qaddoura Fares, a member of the ruling Fatah faction who visited Barghouthi earlier in prison, told reporters that the popular leader "is calling upon the sons of the movement and his supporters to support the movement's nominee Mahmoud Abbas."
Earlier Barghouthi came under pressure from his Fatah faction to drop potentially divisive plans to run for Palestinian president from his Israeli jail cell.
Mr Abbas (69) lacks the charismatic Barghouthi's grassroots popularity but he is favoured as a future peacemaker by Israel and the United States. His defeat could deal a blow to any international effort to revive violence-stalled peace efforts.
Speaking to Israel Radio before his visit, Mr Fares said Mr Abbas regarded Barghouthi as crucial to Palestinian stability following the death of President Yasser Arafat on November 11th.
"(Mr Abbas) asked me to tell Marwan that he is one of the most important pillars of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organisation," Mr Fares said in Hebrew.
Fatah's Central Committee nominated Mr Abbas for president earlier this week and the faction's Revolutionary Council approved the decision on Thursday.
"The door before Marwan is closed now, after the decision of the Fatah Central Committee to nominate (Abbas)," said Mr Hatem Abdel-Qader, a Fatah official and legislator.
"If he runs as an independent candidate, Fatah will lose votes to other factions and this also may create divisions inside the movement," Mr Abdel-Qader said.