Finally, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to end Israeli genocide and stop their massive crimes against humanity in Gaza. The implementation of the agreement will take a few days but the deal is done.
As a true fighter for Palestine State , Marwan Barghouti’s was first imprisoned when he was 18 years old. During this time, he was elected prisoner representative. With this newly found authority, he was tasked with bringing together political factions and negotiating with Israeli authorities.
Right now in the midst of the massive genocide being committed by Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF in Gaza, Hamas leaders and international negotiators have brought up Marwan Barghouti as one of the jailed Palestinians serving many life jail sentences who could be released in exchange with Israel getting their hostages freed from Gaza. Marwan Barghouti has been in Israeli jail for 23 years and the best hope for Israeli was that he would die in jail.
During his time in jail as a teenager, long before his current jail time, Marwan Barghouti was elected prisoner representative. With that newly found authority, he was tasked with bringing together political factions and negotiating with Israeli authorities. As Israel, Hamas, and international mediators convened in Egypt on Monday, four high-profile Palestinian prisoners, Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Sa’adat, Ibrahim Hamed, and Abbas al-Sayed, were expected to top Hamas’s list for release in any exchange for Israeli hostages it holds.
Barghouti remains one of the most popular Palestinian politicians, according to multiple surveys, and has frequently been mentioned in negotiations as a top Hamas demand.
Marwan Barghouti is Israel’s most celebrated prisoner and, by all accounts, the person most likely to succeed Palestinian Authority president and PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas whenever the Palestinian Authority—and the PLO—holds elections. Since 2002, he has been serving five life sentences plus an add-
Once he is released, it will be difficult for an Israeli government to defy momentum toward a two-state option. In a recent Haaretz interview, Ami Ayalon, a former head of Israel’s Shin Bet security services, stressed not only that it was in Israel’s security interest to agree to a Palestinian state but that Barghouti must be released to negotiate and lead this state.
“Marwan is the only Palestinian leader who can be elected and lead a united and legitimate Palestinian leadership toward a path of mutually agreed separation from Israel,” he told the Israeli newspaper.
Posters of Marwan Barghouti with “See You Soon” words written by Palestinians who really love him as their leader.
After October 7, Marwan Barghouti called on Palestinian factions to rise up to fight the oppressive Israeli occupation. According to Al Jazeera, “this call to action spread like wildfire” and resulted in Marwan being sent to solitary confinement.
As Palestinian life hangs in the balance, calls for his release have sparked renewed optimism within fractured Palestinian politics. Aptly named the “Palestinian Nelson Mandela,” Barghouti represents the future of negotiations and the formation of a Palestinian State.
As far as politicians go, few have earned as much respect among Palestinians as Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Palestinian prisoner who is serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail.
The former West Bank leader of the Fatah party is by far the most popular political figure in the occupied Palestinian territories, even though an entire generation of Palestinians was born after he was incarcerated more than two decades ago.
Some have described him as the Palestinian Nelson Mandela, a long-time jailed leader they believe can lead them to freedom.
Hamas is now demanding Barghouti’s release as part of a potential Gaza ceasefire deal – a move that could reshape the Palestinian political landscape. Given his prominence among Palestinians and his perceived ability to lead them toward statehood, Israel is highly unlikely to agree to his release.
Palestinian factions tried to secure his release on multiple occasions, including in previous ceasefire negotiations during the current war. But Israel has refused to consider releasing Barghouti. Barghouti’s son, Arab Bargouthi, told CNN’s Becky Anderson in August that Israel didn’t want to release his father because Netanyahu “doesn’t want a partner for peace.”
Fadwa Barghouti (C), the wife of Marwan Barghouti attends a march to mark the anniversary of his arrest in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 15, 2015.
Having been immensely popular when he was jailed over two decades ago, Barghouti is still seen by many as a leader – perhaps the only one – capable of uniting Palestinians. “He is perceived by the public as a national hero, a man of integrity, not tainted by corruption. A unifier who can reconcile with Hamas and unify the ranks of all Palestinians,” Khalil Shikaki, the director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, told CNN.
Shikaki, who has been tracking Palestinian public opinion for decades, said Barghouti is by far the most popular Palestinian leader and the only secular nationalist capable of winning elections.
“All of the other presidential candidates, Islamists and nationalist alike, cannot defeat him,” he said, adding that Barghouti would likely win at least 60% of the popular vote in an election.
‘Successor to Abbas’
Shikaki said Barghouti is seen as a “realist” but is “a tough negotiator who would make a credible peace with Israel based on a two-state solution, one that can receive support from the majority of the Palestinians.”
His release, Shikaki said, would mark a major victory for Hamas, and would likely shift the mood among Palestinians to one of optimism and lead to increased activism.
“He would be seen as the successor to Abbas. Demand for Abbas’ resignation would increase significantly,” he added, referring to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who has clung to power for 20 years and is seen by critics as lacking democratic legitimacy.
“Barghouti symbolizes the Palestinian struggle against occupation, making it crucial for Hamas to free him for their popularity and credibility, as his imprisonment elevated him to an iconic figure, perceived as close to the people, and his suffering in prison makes him a leadership model for the Palestinians,” said
An article published by Al Jazeera states: “He supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and is seen by many as a leader who could potentially garner support for a peace deal resulting in the creation of a Palestinian state.”
Still the most viable, attainable approach for a settlement to the conflict remains the “two-state solution.” The majority of Israeli and Palestinian society see this as the only way forward.
As a proponent of this solution and his Mandela-like appeal, Marwan, courageously, could make immense strides in achieving this, if he could once again enter the public domain. Barghouti is consistently a proponent of a two-state settlement, to be achieved by ending the occupation by negotiations if possible, struggle if necessary.”
As the genocidal state continues to destabilize the region, with utter contempt for human life, Barghouti remains the embodiment of hope to a resolution that is realizable. After 76 years of ethnic cleansing by the Zionist regime, Palestinian society has been ravaged, resulting in the manifestation of October 7. As the world had forgotten about Palestinians, the genocidal cries of terror from Gaza have once again propelled Palestine to the world stage. Marwan’s potential remains enormous.
The release of Barghouti comes with the potential of finally realizing a negotiated settlement on a Gaza cease-fire, bridging the divide between Hamas and the Israeli government, and leading to the eventual release of the hostages and ending the slaughter of Palestinians.
For all practical purposes, Marwan Barghouti is the new Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) who achieved the impossible of Palestinian control of the West Bank and Gaza and escaped death endlessly including the mass massacre in Beirut where thousands of Palestinian refugees were slaughtered during the rule of the complete maniac leadership in Israel of Ariel Sharon as their Prime Minister.
Benjamin Netanyahu may be the worst PM in Israel over the years having just wiped out the entire Gaza Strip committing a brutal genocide in recorded history as the world watches. The Gaza Holocaust with emphasis on killing children by gunning them down or just starving them to death is something humanity will have to live with for generations to come.
The whole world has been watching live as Israeli soldiers is doing its best to wipe out a population of more than 2 million Palestinians destroying everything and killing uncountable number of people.
After this war of genocide against Palestinians is over, the real war begins at the Hague as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his country will have to defend themselves against committing genocide in Gaza.
The big problem for Isreal in the ICJ right now is that the evidence of genocide in Gaza is overwhelming and Israel has provided the prosecutors and judges at the ICJ with everything to convict Genocide. If that happens Israel will be in a mess for decades and even Trump cannot save them in that area.
If it was all up to Netanyahu he could bomb the ICJ court and the judges in there into dust and have them buried under the rubbles in the Hague.
