Israeli officials are divided over whether Marwan Barghuti, a popular Fatah leader, who is serving five life sentences in Israel should be freed, one day after he was elected to the party's Central Committee. "One should free him immediately and sit down with him, no one else than him is capable of taking difficult decisions," israel's Trade Minister and former Defense minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer told public radio. "One doesn't make peace with schoolteachers but with leaders capable of taking decisions and imposing their authority to all Palestinian factions," conveyed Ben Eliezer.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Tzipi Livni rejected his release. "He is a murderer, he was convicted as a murderer," noted Livni, a former foreign minister. "The fact Palestinians elected him and that some among us see him as a partner does not justify releasing him," she said, according to AFP.
Israel's public radio said the "Shabak:, Israel's domestic intelligence agency, also opposes releasing the 50-year-old figure.
