Editing Marwan Barghouti (section)

=== Split from Fatah ===
[[File:בית אומר 23.4.11 001.jpg|250px|thumb|A banner in support of Marwan Barghouti at a demonstration at [[Beit Ummar]].]]
On 14 December 2005, Barghouti announced that he had formed a new political party, [[Al-Mustaqbal (electoral list)|al-Mustaqbal]] ("The Future"), mainly composed of members of Fatah's "Young Guard", who repeatedly expressed frustration with the entrenched corruption in the party. The list, which was presented to the Palestinian Authority's central elections committee on that day, included [[Mohammed Dahlan]], [[Qadura Fares]], [[Samir Mashharawi]] and [[Jibril Rajoub]].<ref name="medea" />

The split followed Barghouti's earlier refusal of [[Mahmoud Abbas]]' offer to be second on the Fatah party's parliamentary list, behind Palestinian Prime Minister [[Ahmed Qurei]]. Barghouti had actually topped the list,<ref>{{cite web |date=15 December 2005 |title=Fatah splits before key election |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4530206.stm |access-date=17 June 2024 |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> but this had not become apparent until after the new party had been registered.

Reactions to the news were split. Some suggested that the move was a positive step towards peace, as Barghouti's new party could help reform major problems in Palestinian government. Others raised concern that it could wind up splitting the Fatah vote, inadvertently helping Hamas. Barghouti's supporters argued that al-Mustaqbal would split the votes of both parties, both from disenchanted Fatah members as well as moderate Hamas voters who do not agree with Hamas' political goals, but rather its social work and hard position on corruption. Some observers also hypothesized that the formation of al-Mustaqbal was mostly a negotiating tactic to get members of the Young Guard into higher positions of power within Fatah and its electoral list.

Barghouti eventually was convinced that the idea of leading a new party, especially one that was created by splitting from Fatah, would be unrealistic while he was still in prison. Instead he stood as a Fatah candidate in the January 2006 [[Palestinian Legislative Council|PLC]] elections, comfortably regaining his seat in the [[Palestinian Parliament]].