sat_chit_anand asks: "...How do we regard Barghouthi? As a potential political counterpart?..."
With all due respect, sat_chit_anand, any and all rational discussion with the likes of "palestinian types" is useless, and a waste of time.
They mask their "movement" behind various "fronts"; such as "secular Arab nationalist", "political wing" (as opposed to) "military wing" of Hamas, "democratic secular Arab nationalist", "Marxist Front for the Liberation of Palestine", etc. etc. etc... ad nauseum various versions of the same goal; that ONE GOAL always being the extermination of all Jews worldwide.
Their refusal to ever recognize the legitimate national liberation movement of The Jewish People; which is their inherent right to national sovereignty over ALL of the Biblical Land of Israel, is not only their sole means; but also their sole ends of their so-called "movement".
Make no mistake about it...were every Jew in Israel this very minute to pack their bags, leave their homes and possessions, and depart from the Middle East, no "Palestine" would ever be established as a replacement for Israel...
The greatest barbaric sacking of civilization since the Huns swept Europe would scourge every centimeter of Israeli land. Then the so called "Palestinians" would turn on each other...murdering, maiming, killing, burning, raping,...splitting off into factions; each declaring "jihad" against all others...
and then Egypt, Syria, Hezbollah, Jordan, Iran, and Iraq would all invade the Land of Israel to wage mechanized Arab-on-Arab blood lust and death worship; each against all.
The leftist-UN-Islamic "issue" has NOTHING whatsoever to do with any notions of a land belonging to any people other than the Jews....
it has for its agenda the liquidation of all Jews first, followed by the killing or conversion to Islam of the entire Western world.