I hereby nominate the imprisoned Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouthi, for the Nobel Peace Prize. Marwan Barghouthi was first imprisoned when he was 15 years old, and has spent over two decades of his life in Israeli jails. He was the first Palestinian parliamentarian to be arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 15 April 2002 and in June 2004 was sentenced to life imprisonment by an Israeli military court.
The Inter–Parliamentary Union has repeatedly reaffirmed, in annual resolutions adopted unanimously by its Governing Council, that Mr. Barghouthi’s arrest and transfer to Israeli jails was in violation of international law, that his trial failed to meet the fair–trial standards which Israel, as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is bound to respect, and that his guilt has therefore not been established, calling on Israeli authorities to release him forthwith.
Marwan Barghouthi has fought for freedom and peace and has formulated the correlation between these two struggles by stating that the last day of the Israeli occupation of Palestine will be the first day of peace. Marwan is also an active advocate and defender of democracy and human rights, including women rights, and of pluralism, both religious and political, in a region and a world that desperately need such advocates.
Palestine remains today a symbol of the international community’s failure to assume its obligations to respect, and ensure respect for, international law and to achieve international peace and security.
The nomination of Marwan Barghouthi, a symbol of the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, constitutes a clear signal of support for the realization of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights, including to self-determination. There is an international consensus around these rights but there is a need to support them through symbolic and practical steps that would precipitate the end of the occupation as an indispensable step to achieve peace.
I hope the Nobel Committee will take a bold decision bringing us closer to the day this holy land, charged with unique symbolic value, can stop being a living testimony of injustice and impunity, occupation and apartheid, and can finally be a beacon of freedom, hope and peace.
I call on the members of the Nobel Committee to seize this opportunity to bring attention to the urgent need for a just and lasting peace in Palestine, a prospect Marwan Barghouthi continues advocating and acting for, despite years of imprisonment and isolation.

Signatories:
Adv. Felicia Langer/ Honorary President der europäischen Allianz-Tübingen

Professor Norman Paech- Hamburg

Wolfgang Gehrke/ MdB die Linke- Berlin

Annette Groth/ MdB die Linke- Berlin

Dr. Khaled Hamad / Coordinator of The-European-Alliance-in-Defence-of-Palestinian-Detainees- Köln

Inge Höger/ MdB die Linke- Berlin

Helmi Alaaraj/ Hurryyat – Center/ Ramallah

Imad Mustafa/ Politologe- Frankfurt am Main

Erhard Arendt/ Palästina-Portal- Dortmund

Dott. Giuseppe Zambon, Verleger Frankfurt am Main

Abraham Melzer, Der Semit Blog, Neu-Isenburg

Günter Schenk, Membre du Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine - Strasbourg/France

Rudolf Knutti, Swiss-Palestine Association, Zürich, Switzerland

Claudia Karas, Aktionsbündnis für einen gerechten Frieden in Palästina- Frankfurt

Nancy du Plessis - Berlin

Manal Abdel Khaleq, Lawyer, Alliance in defense of the Palestinian detainees- Munich

Esther Thomsen, Diplom-Theologin- Ahrensburg

Shir Hever, Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost- Heidelberg

Christoph Steinbrink - (Munich University Lecturer)
Ruth Fruchtman,Writer and Journalist- Berlin

Einar Schlereth, writer, journalist, blogger -S-360 72 Klavreström

Marlene Stripecke - Bonn, Germany

Dr. Rainer Duhm - 28205 Bremen

Angelika Schneider, 51437 Berg. Gladbach

Katja Janßen, Arabistin, Leipzig

Ingrid Rumpf, Pfullingen, Germany

Christian Artner-Schedler, pax christi Diözesanverband Augsburg

Bissan Ahmed Abou Khaled, The Palestiniane community in Belgium Bussels

Siman Khoury, Industrias Kabinchy, St. George

Nader El Sakka, Palästinensische Gemeinde in Hamburg und Umgebun e: V. – Deutschland

Eva u. Dieter Lehmann, DPG, Hamburg

Dr. Martin Breidert, Ev. Theologe, Bad Honnef, Vizepräsident der Deutsch-Palästinensischen Gesellschaft

Guenter Wimmer, Muenchner Friedensbuendnis, Munich - Germany

Omar Albosta, General Union of Palestinian Engineers, Düssseldorf - Germany

Karin Steinbrinker, Deutsch-Palästinensischer Frauenverein e.V., Germany

Renate Khurdok Salem, Vitaminpalestine, Salem

Gertrud Nehls, Arbeitskreis Nahost, Hagen

Wolfgang Behr, Herdwangen-Schönach - Germany