Senior Israeli diplomatic sources reported on Wednesday that even if jailed Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi were to be elected as the head of the new Palestinian government, the Israeli government would not release him.
The Israeli newspaper Maariv quoted a senior Israeli intelligence officer as saying that there is no Israeli leader willing to release Barghouthi, and that Barghouthi will remain imprisoned "and serve his five life terms".
"He still has many years to spend in jail", the official stated, continuing, "no one intends to release him and violate our court’s decision".
Also, the paper hinted that Israeli president Moshe Katsav, who is the only one authorized to issue such a release order, has previously denied a request to release Barghouthi, and recently repeated his intent to keep the jailed Palestinian candidate in jail.
