Terrorist Marwan Barghouti was today registered to run for Palestinian Authority (PA) president in next month's elections. Barghouti’s wife filed the registration forms. This is a cynical and sinister move aimed at forcing Israel to allow a convicted murderer to become the next PA top goon.

Barghouti’s allies hope that world opinion will pressure Israel into releasing him from prison, even though he was convicted and sentenced in a free, fair, and public trial under the jurisdiction of a democratic society. Barghouti is now serving five consecutive life sentences for

…involvement in three deadly shooting attacks that killed a Greek Orthodox monk in the West Bank in 2001; an Israeli near the Givat Zeev settlement in the West Bank in 2002; and three people at a Tel Aviv restaurant in 2002.

One only needs to look to Britain’s flagship news source, the BBC, for a gauge of “world opinion.” Today, the Beeb described Barghouti as a “Jailed Palestinian leader.” What about the U.S. media? The Washington Post calls the convict, “The fiery, charismatic Barghouti.”. The New York Times calls Barghouti a “fiery Palestinian leader” and asserts that, “…Israeli leaders routinely describe Mr. Barghouti as a ‘terrorist'…” And the Arab press? Egypt’s Al-Ahram said that he was jailed by Israel “for masterminding the Palestinian Intifada against the occupation.”

Same old, same old. Israel’s elected leaders are termed “Nazis” by “world opinion” while Palestinian terrorists are called “leaders.”

Palestinians seem divided over Barghouti’s candidacy. The BBC claims he has “wide popular support among Palestinians,” but their “leadership” is split. The terrorist group Hamas is urging a complete boycott of next month’s elections. A Fatah spokesman said today of Barghouti’s registration, “We regard Marwan's position as astonishing and reprehensible.” Indeed, the PA was seeing Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah’s official candidate, as a shoe-in before today’s events (see “Abu Mazen: Trojan Horse”). Nothing is simple in Palestinian politics.

Al-Ahram, though completely biased, today shed some light on what is happening behind the scenes. Even though Fatah condemned Barghouti’s candidacy registration, the Egyptian paper reported today:

Nonetheless, Palestinian sources intimated that the Fatah Old Guard, including PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, were engaged in "intensive contacts" with Barghouti through his lawyer. The purpose of this dialogue was to convince Barghouti to step down, on the grounds that he is still "a young man and that he has the future before him".

According to the same sources, Barghouti was also promised that intensive efforts would be made to get Israel to free him.

Indeed, PA Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath revealed on Monday that he had asked visiting Secretary of State Colin Powell to exert pressure on Israel to release Barghouti. Powell, who is soon to leave office, met with PA officials in Jericho this week, where he voiced his support for the organisation of elections. Earlier, Powell had received assurances from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Israel would "facilitate" the elections. It was far from clear, however, whether such "facilitation" would involve the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from Palestinian population centres.

Up is down and down is up. Fatah condemns Barghouti’s candidacy while at the same time it engages in “intensive contacts” to have him released. But if he is released, he will most assuredly want to reenter politics, and again become a threat to the “Fatah Old Guard.” I’m not sure exactly what’s going on here.

Israeli Prime Minister Sharon has indicated that he is willing to talk with Fatah’s official candidate, Mahmoud Abbas/Abu Mazen:

Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who refused to deal with Mr. Arafat, says he is prepared to meet Mr. Abbas. In recent weeks, the two sides have raised the possibility of restoring a dialogue and have been speaking in tones of moderation rarely heard in recent years.

Today’s actions by Barghouti et al have certainly complicated the whole PA presidential election picture. Israel must not release Barghouti, not matter what “world opinion” demands. One murderer, Arafat, just died. The PA cannot be led by another terrorist. In his short tenure as PA prime minister, Abbas did try to wrench some control from Arafat over Palestinian security forces -- and Arafat promptly fired him. Is he worth being given a chance? I’ve become so skeptical of Palestinian intentions that I just don’t know what to think.