South African Bishop Desmond Tutu has nominated Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti for the Nobel Peace Prize. According to polling, Barghouti remains one of the most popular Palestinian personalities and is often suggested as the successor to the octogenarian president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. All this, despite the fact that Barghouti is incarcerated in an Israeli prison where he is serving five consecutive life terms for terrorist murder. During the Second Intifada (the period of unbridled violence typified by the proliferation of bus bombings and suicide attacks between 2000 and 2005), Barghouti headed the Tanzim, a group aligned with the Fatah faction and responsible for numerous attacks on Israeli civilians. Nevertheless, Barghouti is often suggested as the next PA president, many pundits predicting that under the correct circumstances, Israel would cooperate in allowing it to happen. Tutu, who himself won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his work in apartheid-South Africa, has long been an ardent supporter of the Palestinians and vehement critic of the Jewish state. Several others have also nominated Barghouti.
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Mural depicting jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, at the Qalandiya checkpoint, between Jerusalem and Ramallah. AFP PHOTO/JAAFAR ASHTIYEH (Photo credit should read JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP/Getty Images)