Jailed leader drops out of Palestinian presidential race

PALESTINIAN officials said yesterday that jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouti will not run for president in upcoming Palestinian elections.

Barghouti, 45, an extremely popular member of the younger guard of Fatah, had considered challenging Mahmoud Abbas, 69, in the election to succeed Yasser Arafat.

But armed with an appeal from Abbas to abandon the campaign, Palestinian cabinet minister Kadoura Fares travelled to an Israeli prison in Beersheba yesterday for talks with Barghouti