Israel rejects freeing popular leader

—The most popular and potentially unifying Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouti, is not among the prisoners Israel intends to free in exchange for hostages held by Hamas under the new Gaza ceasefire deal.

- By LEE KEATH, JULIA FRANKEL AND JALAL BWAITAL

MARWAN BARGHOUTI, on mural, is a potentially unifying Palestinian figure.

(MAHMOUD ILLEAN Associated Press)

Israel has also rejected freeing other high-profile prisoners whose release Hamas has long sought, though it was not immediately clear if a list of about 250 prisoners issued Friday on the Israeli government's official website was final.

Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk told the Al Jazeera TV channel that the group insists on the release of Barghouti and other high-profile figures and that it was in discussions with mediators.

Israel views Barghouti as a terrorist leader. He is serving multiple life sentences after being convicted in 2004 in connection with attacks in Israel that killed five people.

But some experts say Israel fears Barghouti for another reason: An advocate of a two-state solution even as he backed armed resistance to occupation, Barghouti could be a powerful rallying figure. Some Palestinians view him as their Nelson Mandela — the long-imprisoned anti-apartheid icon, whom the South African government cast as a terrorist before he was freed and became the country’s first Black president.

With the ceasefire and Israeli troop pullback in Gaza that came into effect Friday, Hamas is to release about 20 living Israeli hostages by Monday. Israel is to free some 250 Palestinians serving prison sentences, as well as about 1,700 people seized from Gaza the last two years and held without charge.

The releases have powerful resonance on both sides. Israelis see the prisoners as terrorists, some of them involved in suicide bombings. Many Palestinians view the thousands held by Israel as political prisoners or freedom fighters resisting decades of military occupation.