Uprising leader will not run in Palestinian election, giving su

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Jailed Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti dropped out of the race to replace Yasser Arafat on Friday, agreeing to support the candidacy of interim leader Mahmoud Abbas in a move intended to head off a split in the ruling Fatah movement.

Barghouti's decision not to run in the Palestinians' presidential election Jan. 9 was a big boost for Abbas, a pragmatist who opposes violence and appears to have the tacit support of Israel and the United States.

Fatah's old-time leaders had feared Barghouti's popularity among younger activists could carry him to victory -- or help other candidates by dividing the Fatah vote, although no other serious candidates have entered the race so far.

Meanwhile, Israel agreed to remove all roadblocks in the West Bank on the day of the presidential election, security officials said on condition of anonymity. Israel's government has said it will do its utmost to ensure the vote goes smoothly.

Barghouti made his decision after Fatah announced that its long-delayed internal elections would be held next summer, a move clearly intended to appease the movement's increasingly restless young guard who feel they have been denied deserved roles in the top leadership.

Barghouti, the 45-year-old former leader of Fatah operations in the West Bank, is serving five life terms in an Israeli prison for a series of murder convictions in attacks that killed four Israelis and a Greek monk.

After the announcement, Barghouti's daughter Ruba, 15, began weeping. "He is putting his confidence in the sellouts," she cried.

Many young Fatah activists have complained that the long-entrenched Palestinian leadership has frozen them out of key positions. But Fatah's decision to hold a general conference and party elections Aug. 4, on Arafat's birthday, would likely bring a new generation of activists into Palestinian politics.

The party conference will probably be held abroad to allow Fatah officials in Lebanon, Jordan and other countries to participate, said Amin Maqboul, a Fatah official.

Although Fatah's charter calls for elections every five years, it last held a party conference and elections in Algeria in 1989.

Abbas called for the new elections late Thursday while speaking to the Fatah Revolutionary Council, one of the party's top bodies. He also opened up the possibility of holding a referendum on any final agreement reached with Israel, "so that the people, all the people, will participate in self-determination."

He also appeared to soften his stance on the issue of Palestinian refugees.

On Tuesday, Abbas told the Palestinian parliament he would demand Israel recognize refugees' "right of return." But on Thursday, he said he would push for "a fair and agreed upon solution for the issue of refugees" under a U.N. resolution that calls for refugees to be allowed to return to their former homes or be given compensation.

The refugee issue has contributed to the failure of previous peace talks. Israel has said it is willing to accept only a few thousand refugees, arguing that absorbing millions of Palestinians would destroy the Jewish character of the state.

Barghouti had flirted with the idea of running to replace Arafat in recent weeks. At his headquarters in Ramallah, campaign posters showing Arafat holding up a photo of Barghouti were stacked in one room and supporters talked of campaign ads they were preparing.

He has been in Israeli custody since being captured in Ramallah by Israeli forces in April 2002.

Before the current round of violence erupted in September 2000, Barghouti was known as a moderate, advocating creation of a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel. Speaking fluent Hebrew, he had frequent contact with Israeli peace activists.

But when the Palestinians' second uprising broke out in 2000, he justified attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza as legitimate resistance to occupation, and Israel accused him of orchestrating some of the violence.

Abbas has spoken out against violence and said the current uprising was a mistake.