By Steven Scheer and Pesha Magid
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump is considering whether to urge Israel to release popular Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti, jailed for more than 20 years and repeatedly denied his freedom by Israel.
"I am literally being confronted with that question about 15 minutes before you called," Trump told Time in an interview published on Thursday. "That was the question. That was my question of the day. So I'll be making a decision."
In an October 15 Time interview released on Thursday, Trump said the Palestinians don't have a visible leader. He was responding to a question whether Barghouti could unite Palestinians behind a two-state solution and whether he should be released from prison despite Israel's refusal.
Barghouti, 66, was sentenced in 2004 to five life sentences and 40 years in jail after a court convicted him of orchestrating ambushes and suicide attacks on Israelis during the second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising. He has denied the charges.
As a leader of the 2000 uprising against Israel, Barghouti has maintained good relations with rival leaders from Hamas and other factions and enjoys great respect and admiration among leaders and grassroots of the Fatah movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Many in Fatah draw a likeness between him and the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.
In a 20-point, multi-phase plan, Trump this month orchestrated a ceasefire deal to end the two-year war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas that involved Israel receiving 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza in exchange for the release of some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel has so far also received the remains of 15 of 28 deceased hostages.
To ensure the ceasefire holds despite lingering violence, a number of top U.S. officials have visited Israel the past 10 days, led by Trump last week, followed by his envoy Steve Witkoff and former Trump envoy Jared Kushner. Vice President JD Vance was in Israel this week, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Thursday.
Two recently released Palestinian prisoners said that eight Israeli security personnel beat Barghouti unconscious during a prison transfer on September 14. The prisoners, who were in solitary confinement and did not directly witness the assault, said they had spoken to Barghouti shortly after the attack. Reuters was unable to independently verify their accounts.
The Israel Prison Service called the assertions "fake" and said it "operates in accordance with the law, while ensuring the safety and health of all inmates."
In August, Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir shared a video showing him visiting Barghouti in prison and telling him, "You will not win."
Who will govern the Palestinians is a key question.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, 89, controls parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but Hamas runs Gaza, which has been devastated during the war. Abbas was elected in 2005 to a four-year term but subsequent elections have been repeatedly postponed.
Trump, Israel and many Western and Arab allies want Hamas -- whose October 7, 2023, raid into Israel triggered the war -- to relinquish power and disarm.
A number of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners, including Ben-Gvir, have pushed for annexation of the West Bank but Trump is opposed.
"It won't happen. It won't happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And you can't do that now," Trump said in the interview. "We've had great Arab support. It won't happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries... Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened."
On Wednesday, a bill led by Israeli opposition members but backed by ultranationalists Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, was approved by a 25-24 vote in Israel's 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu's office said the vote was a "deliberate political provocation" that aimed to sow division during Vance's visit.
Netanyahu's Likud party did not vote for the bill, it said, adding that without its support, attempts to legislate the annexation of the West Bank were "unlikely to go anywhere."
Vance said: "If it was a political stunt, it is a very stupid one, and I personally take some insult to it."
(Reporting by Steven Scheer and Pesha Magid; Additional reporting by Alexander Cornwell and Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Howard Goller)
