force of personality. It is that mysterious thing called charisma. He radiates a quiet authority that does not depend on outward signs.
The war of vilification between Fatah and Hamas does not touch him. Hamas takes care not to attack him. On the contrary, when they submitted a list of prisoners in exchange for the captured soldier Gilad Shalit, Marwan Barghouti, in spite of his being a Fatah leader, headed the list.
It was he who, together with the imprisoned leaders of the other organizations, composed the famous "prisoners' document," which called for national unity. All Palestinian factions accepted the document. Thus the "Mecca Agreement," which created the (short-lived) Government of National Unity, was born. Before it was signed by the parties, urgent messengers were sent to Marwan in order to obtain his agreement. Only when this was given, did the signing take place.
I took advantage of my visit in Ramallah in order to get an impression of the opinions of Barghouti's adherents. They try not to be swept away by the climate of mutual hate that now governs the leaderships of the two sides.
Some of them strenuously oppose the Hamas actions in Gaza, but try to understand the causes. According to them, the Hamas people, unlike many of the Fatah leaders, have never been in the West and have not attended foreign universities. Their mental world was formed by the religious education system. Their horizon is narrow. The complex international situation, in which the Palestinian national movement is compelled to operate, is quite foreign to them.
In the last elections, my interlocutors explained, Hamas hoped to gain 35-40 percent of the votes and thus gain legitimacy for their movement. They were totally surprised when they won the majority. They did not know what to do with it. They had no plans. It was a mistake on their part to set up a government composed entirely of Hamas members, instead of insisting on a unity government. They misjudged the international and Israeli reaction.
Marwan's adherents do not shrink back from self-criticism. In their opinion, Fatah is not without blame for what happened in Gaza. The movement did not act wisely when they arrested and humiliated the Hamas leaders. For example, they arrested Mahmoud al-Zahar, the foreign minister in the Hamas government, humiliated him, cut off his beard, and called him by the name of a famous Egyptian female dancer. This is one of the reasons for the burning hatred al-Zahar and his colleagues hold for Fatah.
I did not hear denials of the Hamas contention that Muhammad Dahlan, the former confidant and security advisor of Mahmoud Abbas,