A collection of the writings of imprisoned Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti will be published in November, bringing together prison letters, interviews, personal material and documents from the last three decades of Barghouti’s political life and imprisonment.
As deadly attacks in Gaza continue despite a nominal ceasefire, the 66-year-old is seen by many as the best hope for a leader of any future Palestinian state.
His book, Unbroken: In Pursuit of Freedom for Palestine, will be published by Penguin on 5 November this year, the publisher told the Guardian.
Barghouti has been held in Israeli prisons since 2002, after being arrested in Ramallah, where he served as an elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He was arrested and imprisoned after being accused of orchestrating the attacks that resulted in the killing of five civilians, and was convicted of terrorism charges in an Israeli court. The Inter-Parliamentary Union, an international organization, criticized the test at the time, arguing that it violated international lawincluding the Geneva conventions. Barghouti has always denied the charges against him.
Barghouti is a member of the Fatah party, an opponent of Hamas, and has long advocated a two-state solution. Many argue that Israel’s refusal to release him is due to concern that he will become a powerful voice for the Palestinian cause.
Born in 1959 in the West Bank village of Kobar, Barghouti grew up under Israeli military occupation after the 1967 war and was arrested several times for political activism as a teenager. In the following decades he emerged as a prominent figure within Palestinian politics, promoting Palestinian unity.
The forthcoming book will gather private letters to Barghouti’s family written from prison, letters to public figures, press interviews, public statements, historical documents and photographs, along with extracts from his book 1,000 Days in Solitary Confinement, which until now was only available in Arabic.
Barghouti spent long periods in solitary confinement without access to his family and, according to former Palestinian prisoners, was subjected to several severe prison attacks. In November 2025, the Guardian reported that he had not seen his family for three years, while his lawyers were allowed to visit him only five times in the last two years. The International Committee of the Red Cross was barred from visiting him, a move that violates international law.
In August last year, Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, shared video footage in which he was seen mocking Barghouti and threatening to kill him.
Despite more than two decades in prison, successive opinion polls show that Barghouti is the most popular Palestinian politician in Gaza and the West Bank. He is often cited by supporters as a potential unifying leader across factional divisions, and has described as “Palestine’s Mandela”. His continued prominence has fueled international campaigns calling for his release.
The latest was launched in November 2025, with coordinated demonstrations and public art installations in Palestine and in cities including London, alongside protests across Europe, the US and South Africa. Last December, more than 200 leading cultural figures – including Margaret Atwood, Annie Ernaux, Benedict Cumberbatch, Elif Shafak, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Tilda Swinton, Olga Tokarczuk, Colm Tóibín, Sir Ian McKellen and Gary Lineker – signed an open letter calling for his release.
An introduction to the book was written by Barghouti’s wife, Fadwa Barghouti, a prominent advocate for his release. “For a long time, I wish the world could hear Marwan in his own voice, not through the noise that surrounds him,” he said in a statement. “This book finally makes that possible – and I hope it helps people understand who Marwan Barghouti really is, and how he embodies the Palestinian struggle for freedom and dignity.”