I will never lose hope even after decades in Israeli jails

JVL Introduction

Nael Barghouti-, now 68, has spent more than four decades incarcerated by Israel, 34 years consecutively.  He was released in a Palestinian prisoner and Israeli hostage swap in January 2025 but had to agree to live in exile and is now in Egypt – but his wife is not allowed to join him.

Somehow, after so many years of incarceration and enduring torture and knowing the current levels of oppression of the Palestinian people, he remains optimistic about a future where Palestinians can live as most other people do, with freedom, able to move around when they want to.

This article also shows the importance of Palestinian prisoners in the struggle, the respect in which they are held and how there is hardly a family that has not had at least one member who has experienced imprisonment at the hands of the Israeli State. Here Nael Barghouti speaks of his time in prison and his desire for, and belief in, liberation as well as his own and his family’s experience over many years of imprisonment and torture; even now his 60 year old sister is currently held under administrative detention for the 3rd time since October 7th 2023, quite possibly because she spoke with her brother.

LL

This article was originally published by Drop Site News on Mon 19 Jan 2026. Read the original here.