Ma'an – Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi expects to win the next Palestinian Presidential, an interview published on Sunday reports.The Italian newspaper La Stampa spoke with Barghouthi in his cell in Israel's Hadareim prison. "Once Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] resigns, I will run in the presidential election, and I will win thanks to Fatah support," Barghouthi said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has often mentioned Barghouthi as a potential successor.
Meanwhile the London-based pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper reports that senior Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal will travel to Cairo soon in order to seal a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. Barghouthi is high on Hamas' list of prisoners it wants freed in exchange for the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. "Palestinians in 2006 voted against the collapse of the peace process, against renewed occupation of the West Bank, and against corruption within Fatah. However, it was Fatah who convinced Hamas to take part in the previous elections as they are part of the Palestinian people," said Barghouthi, commenting on Hamas' victory in the 2006 parliamentary elections.
In response to a question about the Annapolis conference and renewed peace negotiations with Israel, Barghouthi said the Israelis "continue to construct settlements, to confiscate lands, to try to transform Jerusalem into a purely Jewish city, and to suffocate the Palestinian economy." "What Hamas did in Gaza is obscene, and weakens the Palestinian cause. The peopleÂ’s unity is all we have, our history. If we donÂ’t act, the divisions will destroy us. Hamas must restore Gaza to the president, Abu Mazen, and come to an agreement on a new government with a security apparatus without factions and fix the date of the elections in 2008. We are at a crossroad and Israel isnÂ’t helping us: with their politics of aggression they think they can crush us, and instead it strengthens the hardliners within Hamas," he added.