One thing all agree on is that Marwan Barghouti’s decision to run has blown the presidential race wide open. Opinion polls have him and Mahmoud Abbas more or less neck and neck, and among the other eight candidates at least two, acting speaker of the Legislative Council Hasan Khreisheh and Mustapha Barghouti both have relatively high public profiles, making the field very competitive. However, some observers fear that the competition and the electoral system will simply lead to the loss of thousands of votes, and weaken the mandate of any elected PA president in the international arena. Atef Saad assesses Barghouti’s candidacy for the Palestine Report. Read more about "Bombshell" shakes Fateh: Barghouti's candidacy blows race wide open 

Today’s Israeli Ha’aretz newspaper brought good news to those disturbed by the relentless death toll resulting from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; a headline that stated “IDF: 29 Palestinian civilians killed in W. Bank in 2004”. “The Israel Defense Forces released figures Wednesday showing that since the beginning of the year,” wrote Ha’aretz correspondent Amos Harel, “148 Palestinians have been killed by IDF fire in the West Bank, at least 29 of them, by army count, innocent bystanders, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.” EI’s Nigel Parry gags and begs to differ. Read more about On Palestine's Dead: Israel's Chilling Concept of "Good News" 

Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian resistance leader imprisoned by Israel, has caused an uproar by reversing his earlier decision not to run for president of the Palestinian Authority. His candidacy has provoked some very negative reactions that cast serious doubt on the sincerity of those who have long been calling on the Palestinians to speed up democratization and reform as a way to advance the peace process. EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah and co-founder Ali Abunimah look at the dispute and examine why there is so much hostility from peace process professionals to Barghouti taking part in a free election. Read more about Is Marwan Barghouti right to run? 

For many following developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat gave rise to new hopes for peace in the Middle East. However, for many Palestinians, their feeling of optimism regarding the future is largely psychological since there is no practical justification for it. Most are convinced that Israel will seek to find any pretext to avoid a meaningful peace process that would lead to the termination of 37 years of military occupation. The vital question remains whether Israel is willing to pay the price for peace and withdraw. Read more about Palestinian expectations tempered by reality 

A former Palestinian official, who survived an assassination attempt earlier this year, has attacked the Palestinian Authority, charging it with widespread mismanagement. Nabil Amr, the former Palestinian information minister, warned that Palestinians have to choose either genuine democracy based on the rule of law or national demise. He said the Palestinian Authority (PA) suffered from “rampant misgovernance, lawlessness and a lack of accountability”. Amr returned this week to his home town of Dura, southwest of Hebron, after a lengthy recuperation in Germany, where he had his right leg amputated. He survived an attempt on his life in the West Bank town of Ramallah a few months ago. Read more about Former minister lashes out at PA 

Mahmoud Abbas was recently selected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. As the sole candidate of Fatah, the faction that dominates the PLO and the Palestinian Authority (PA), he is almost certain to be elected on 9 January as president of the PA, replacing Yasir Arafat in both key positions. This “smooth transition” will be a great relief to many Western peace process professionals because Abbas has been ready to compromise basic Palestinian rights. But, says EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah, Abbas will not be able to end the resistance to the occupation and deliver the Palestinians to Israel as his Western backers hope. Read more about Why they love Mahmoud Abbas 

Many believe that no leader can ever take the place of Yasser Arafat or cross the red lines that he drew: East Jerusalem, the refugee issue, holding armed militias accountable or halting armed resistance under American or Israeli conditions. Palestinians are in agreement, however, that the passing of their legendary leader will leave behind major changes on the political scene and also influence the work of institutions. And even if the Palestinians - whether those in the Authority, official or national institutions or political parties and factions, were able to smoothly get past the first phase, the fact still remains that they all have many difficult and unpredictable challenges ahead. Read more about Uncertain times 

After days of internal haggling, Fatah has decided unanimously to nominate Mahmud Abbas as its candidate for the forthcoming Palestinian Authority presidential election scheduled for 9 January. The nomination is expected to be approved by Fatah’s revolutionary council and other relevant bodies later this week. It is unclear, though, if the nomination of Abbas, also known as Abu Mazin, was coordinated with Marwan al-Barghuthi, the less experienced but more popular Fatah’s secretary-general who is serving five consecutive life imprisonment terms in Israel for masterminding the Palestinian intifada against the Israeli occupation. Read more about Crowded field for Palestinian election 

The first priority for Palestinian leaders now must be to defend their people against Israel’s relentless colonization and violence and not to negotiate with Israeli guns to Palestinian heads. They must formulate a national strategy to regain Palestinian rights enshrined in UN Resolutions, clearly explain this strategy, and organize Palestinians and allies everywhere to struggle for it. Palestinians should seek to emulate the success of the African National Congress that freed South Africans from apartheid by confronting and defeating injustice, not seeking to accommodate it, writes EI co-founder Ali Abunimah. Read more about What Palestinians should do now