MARWAN BARGHOUTI, the jailed Palestinian firebrand who is running for election from his Israeli prison cell, was allowed to give television interviews yesterday before the poll.

Wearing his brown prison uniform, he reached out to Hamas, calling for a broad-based government of “national unity” and saying that the radical Islamist group would become part of the Palestinian Authority.

Barghouti, 46, heads the ruling Fatah faction’s list of candidates for Wednesday’s parliamentary election despite serving a life sentence for murder after he was convicted by Israel of involvement in planning attacks during the intifada. The voluble populist welcomed Hamas’s decision to join the political process, urging Palestinians to vote and saying that the two groups were “heading toward being partners in the field, and in parliament”.

He also condemned the lawlessness that had damaged Fatah’s reputation. “What happened was shameful and harms the image of the resistance . . . the role of this rifle is to protect the Palestinian people and not be pointed at it,” he said.

Israel’s decision to let Barghouti speak to Channel 4 and the Arabic stations al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya is widely taken as a sign that Israel and the international community are nervous of Hamas’s challenge to moderate Fatah.

Ehud Olmert, the acting Israeli Prime Minister, met senior aides yesterday to decide how to respond if Hamas joined the Government.

Israel denounced Barghouti as a terrorist after the trial but officials are more nuanced in private. Even after his conviction, some conceded that he was a likely candidate for release in a political deal.

Already a popular figure on the Palestinian street, his conviction has earned him celebrity status. Fatah’s election posters feature him brandishing his handcuffed wrists above his head in a victory salute. He is widely regarded as a potential successor to Mahmoud Abbas, who has said that he will resign as President of the Palestinian Authority after his term expires in 2008.

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