Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti said Saturday that the cease-fire with Israel is in the Palestinian national interest.

Barghouti, who met Hadash Chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh at Hadarim prison, expressed support for the meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, despite the fact that, in his opinion, it did not yield results.

He also expressed opposition to harming innocent civilians on either side.

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Barghouti told Barakeh that the least the Palestinians can accept is a state along the 1967 borders with its capital in Jerusalem, the return of refugees and release of prisoners.

"This will be a state small in size, but large in honor and freedom," he said.

Barghouti also addressed the internal situation in the Palestinian Authority and the conflict between Fatah and Hamas.

He said that significant progress had been made towards establishing a Palestinian unity government, adding that its formation would lift the aid embargo from the Palestinians and strengthen the peace camp in Israel.

He also stated that Palestinian prisoners held in Israel would stage a hunger strike if internal clashes continued between Fatah and Hamas.

MK Barakeh described the meeting with Barghouti as very important. He stressed that the issue of prisoners is "the most important issue in the Palestinian arena."

"A true calm will be possible only after the release of a substantial number of prisoners," he said.

Barghouti called the imprisonment of 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israel a "foolish policy."