In a region long synonymous with conflict and political deadlock, the fate of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has once again become a lightning rod for international attention, human rights scrutiny, and the ever-elusive prospect of peace. Two stories—one of a prominent leader whose name echoes in both Palestinian and Israeli corridors of power, and another of a young man whose personal suffering epitomizes the broader plight of detainees—now intersect at a critical moment.
On October 25, 2025, US President Donald Trump made headlines by declaring he may push for the release of Marwan Barghouti, often dubbed the “Palestinian Nelson Mandela.” Barghouti, a 66-year-old leader in the secular Fatah party, is the most famous Palestinian prisoner held in Israel. He is serving multiple life sentences after being convicted in 2004 for planning attacks that killed five Israeli civilians. The conviction, which Barghouti has always rejected, did not include him in the latest prisoner-hostage exchanges brokered as part of the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused Hamas’ requests for Barghouti’s release, keeping him behind bars even as 250 other prisoners convicted of violent attacks were freed.
Barghouti’s unique position is not lost on either side of the conflict. According to a former top Israeli diplomat, Alon Liel, the reason Barghouti remains incarcerated is his symbolic power to unite Palestinians and potentially restart peace talks. Liel, who first met Barghouti over 25 years ago, described their relationship as “very, very close and intimate,” with conversations focused solely on peace, two states, and Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories. “The only reason we kept [Barghouti] in jail is that he is a political leader. He is a symbol… and he can probably unite the Palestinian people behind him,” Liel told The i Paper. “So the only reason we didn’t release him is that we don’t want to talk with the Palestinians. We prefer the guy who can lead them to be in jail.”
Barghouti, who holds a master’s degree in international relations from Bir Zeit University and speaks fluent Hebrew, consistently tops polls among Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank as the favorite to succeed the aging and unpopular Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian Authority president. His political stance, favoring a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders—West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza—stands in contrast to Hamas’ more maximalist aims. For many Palestinians, the comparison to Nelson Mandela is apt: both men were charismatic, both were imprisoned for years, and both were seen as the only leaders capable of uniting their people and delivering peace.
But Barghouti’s continued detention is not just a matter of symbolism or politics—it’s about his safety, too. His family has raised alarms about his treatment in prison, reporting that he was beaten unconscious by eight prison guards in September 2025. His son, Arab Barghouti, appealed to the international community: “I call on the world to please speak out on what is happening to Marwan Barghouti. They are trying to assassinate him in prison, and nothing is going to stop them except for pressure from the international community.” The Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was even filmed taunting Barghouti in his cell, later boasting, “I am proud that Barghouti’s situation has changed radically during my tenure—play time is over.”
For Barghouti’s wife, Fadwa, the stakes are not just personal but political. In a direct appeal to President Trump, she said, “Mr President, a genuine partner awaits you—one who can help fulfil the dream we share of a just and lasting peace in the region.” Trump, for his part, acknowledged Barghouti’s unique potential, telling Time Magazine, “That was my question of the day. So I’ll be making a decision. They don’t have a leader right now. At least a visible leader.”
While Barghouti’s case remains a symbol of the larger Palestinian struggle, the personal stories of lesser-known detainees also cast a harsh light on the realities inside Israeli prisons. Mahmoud Abu Foul, a 28-year-old Palestinian amputee, was released from Israeli detention on October 13, 2025, as part of the same ceasefire deal. His story, reported by CBC News, is harrowing. Detained at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on December 27, 2024, Abu Foul was held for over nine months at Sde Teiman military prison in southern Israel. During his detention, he was subjected to repeated beatings and torture that left him blind.
“I walked out of prison, wishing and dreaming that I could see even with just one eye,” Abu Foul told CBC News freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife, speaking from a tent in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza where he now lives with his mother. Abu Foul lost his left leg in a 2015 Israeli airstrike, and was in the hospital for treatment when detained. He was accused of terrorism, a charge he vehemently denies: “They detained me like they detain everyone else—false accusations of terrorism that they place on all detainees. We’re not terrorists.”
His mother, Umm Ahed Abu Foul, was devastated upon seeing her son’s condition after his release. “It was the shock of my life to approach my son … to see that he had lost his eyesight,” she said. “Since the day I saw my son, the tears won’t dry from my heart, not my eyes.”
Abu Foul described the conditions at Sde Teiman as torturous. He recounted being forced to sit on the ground all day without moving his head or leaning for support, suffering severe back pain, and being repeatedly beaten. One blow to the head left him unconscious for two hours; he awoke blind. Despite repeated requests for medical treatment, he received only ineffective eye drops. “I wished I could’ve seen the destruction, I wished I could’ve seen everything ... my family—I could only hear their voices,” he said.
Allegations of torture and mistreatment are not new. Human rights organizations, including B’Tselem and Addameer, have documented systematic abuse of Palestinian detainees, ranging from beatings and waterboarding to sexual violence and denial of medical care. The United Nations has repeatedly called on Israel to end “systematic torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinians held in their prisons and other places of detention.” Between October 7, 2023, and August 31, 2025, at least 75 Palestinians died in Israeli detention, including 49 from Gaza, according to the UN’s Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Israeli military, for its part, denies systematic abuse. In response to reports, it told Reuters in August 2024 that it operates detention facilities according to the rule of law and that any specific claims of abuse are investigated. “The IDF categorically rejects allegations of systematic abuse, including sexual abuse, in its detention facilities,” the military stated.
As calls for accountability and reform grow louder, so too does the international debate over the political calculus of prisoner releases. Alon Liel argues that both the United States and Europe have a role to play. “The Europeans during the war played a very important role in bringing us to this ceasefire through the recognitions of Palestine,” he said. “Now we are in a different stage, hopefully, and now we have to think of moving forward. And in order to move forward, you need Barghouti and I hope voices will start being heard in Europe for his release.”
For now, the stories of Marwan Barghouti and Mahmoud Abu Foul serve as stark reminders of the human cost and political complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—a conflict where every prisoner, every leader, and every family bears the weight of history and hope.