Jerusalem - Israeli ministers and lawmakers argued Wednesday over whether senior Fatah member Marwan Barghouti should be released from jail in Israel, following his strong showing in internal elections in the Palestinian party.

Barghouti, 50, the former West Bank head of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, is serving five consecutive life sentences in Israel for the killing of four Israelis and a Greek-Orthodox monk in shooting attacks by Fatah gunmen.

According to preliminary results, he came in third in elections at last week's Fatah party conference, their first in 20 years - joining the movement's top decision-making body, the Central Committee.

Following his successful showing, Fatah members have urged Israel to grant him an amnesty, a call to which at least two members of the Labour Party, the most dovish coalition partner in the otherwise hardline government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, responded positively.

"That man must be released and we must sit opposite him and talk. There is no one else but him who can take decisions and who can take difficult decisions," Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio Wednesday.

Hinting at Abbas' inability to impose his authority over a Palestinian people who are divided between the West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Ben-Eliezer said "singing peace songs" with weak leaders would lead nowhere.

"Here we need someone who is also capable of imposing his leadership over his entire people," he said.

Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman, also Labour, made a similar call for Barghouti's release a day earlier.

But Sport and Culture Minister Limor Livnat, speaking to Israel Radio Wednesday and of Netanyahu's ruling Likud party, vehemently opposed Barghouti's release, calling him "dangerous."

Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, declined to respond to the Fatah calls, referring the German Press Agency dpa to the justice ministry for the reasons for Barghouti's incarceration.

Lawmakers from the left to right too made passionate arguments for or against his release, with Gideon Ezra of the opposition, centrist Kadima party, saying Barghouti should be freed as part of a prisoner swap that would include the release of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit, held captive in Gaza.

Arye Eldad of the far-right National Union called Barghouti a member of a "murderous terrorist organization" who should not be freed at any cost. (dpa)