The 'Palestinian Napoleon' behind Mideast cease-fire

Abbas also asked that Arafat, confined to his Ramallah compound for over a year now, be allowed to leave. Sharon, who has worked with the US to marginalize the PA president, said he would consider allowing the aging leader to move to Gaza, adding, according to the Israeli press, "as long as he stays there."

If Arafat is a lion in winter, Barghouti is a clear heir apparent and has already succeeded Arafat as a symbol of resistance for many Palestinians.

A tiny fireplug of a man who wields a sharp wit in three languages, he has a politician's instinct for image and theatre. At the onset of the intifada, he would position himself for TV interviews so that Israeli tanks confronting stone-throwing Palestinian boys appeared in the background.

He invited Nelson Mandela to attend his (still ongoing) trial and has used hearings to announce that Israel, not he, is on trial for its occupation.

"He is incredibly influential," says Diana Buttu, a legal adviser to the Palestinian Liberation Organization, who points out that Barghouti grew up here, unlike Abbas or Arafat.

"He is very charismatic, principled, and clear with Israelis: 'We don't hate you; we hate your occupation,'" Ms. Buttu adds.

Barghouti was born just north of Ramallah to the poor wing of a prominent West Bank family. He got off to an early political start, joining Fatah at 15 and becoming a student leader at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank.

His political activism led to jail time. Barghouti reportedly earned his high school diploma in jail. Subsequent sentences meant it took him 11 years to earn his university degree in history and political science.

In 1987, when the first Palestinian uprising began, Israel exiled him to Tunis and from there he went to Jordan, becoming the youngest ever member of the Fatah revolutionary council in 1989.

Barghouti returned to the territories in 1994 under the Oslo peace process as an enthusiastic supporter of those negotiations. He soon began speaking out against Israeli settlement construction and the corruption of Arafat's government.

As the Oslo talks dissolved into violence, Barghouti began advocating a more militant approach to Israel. "We tried seven years of intifada without negotiations, then seven years of negotiations without intifada. Perhaps it is time to try both simultaneously," he said in November 2000.

While his preferred means changed, his end didn't: His stated goal has always been complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories.

With his arrest in April 2002, he is charged with financing or instigating 37 attacks which killed 26 Israelis and hurt dozens. He faces life in prison.

Barghouti's stock among Palestinians has soared even higher since his arrest, but tellingly, Arafat has been largely silent about him.

Indeed, though Barghouti has written that he expects to lose his life resisting Israel, some observers say he faces a greater risk from his colleagues.

Hafez Barghouti says there are those "inside Fatah who want him to be killed, not freed, because he's clean, because so many of them are corrupt."

He adds: "They are afraid of Marwan when he gets out, because he's a popular leader who is accepted by Hamas, Islamic Jihad... he is a national leader and that makes them afraid."

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