Bono is done with fairytale peace talks.
In a long, sharp-edged essay published in The AtlanticThe Atlantic, the U2 frontman takes a clear, uncomfortable stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict, calling for the release of Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian leader imprisoned in Israel since 2002 and serving five life sentences. For Bono, this isn’t a symbolic gesture. It’s a hard political necessity.
“We’ve told the story of peace all wrong,” Bono writes. Not as a dove-and-handshake fantasy, but as exhausting, often ugly work. His core argument cuts deep: without the consent of those who actually fought the war, there is no peace to build.
Barghouti is one of the most controversial figures in Palestinian politics. Convicted by an Israeli court and seen by many as irredeemable, he is also, in Bono’s view, the last credible leader capable of commanding real authority among Palestinians.
Bono draws a deliberate comparison to Nelson Mandela. Not because Barghouti is nonviolent, but because he recognizes the legitimate existence of the “Other.” That, Bono argues, is the bare minimum for any future settlement.
What’s missing today, he says bluntly, is leadership with real street credibility. Not NGO-approved, not think-tank friendly. The kind forged in conflict.
“Paramilitaries don’t lay down arms because pacifists ask nicely,” Bono writes. Credibility belongs to those who stood on the barricades, even when that fact makes everyone uncomfortable.
This is where Bono’s Irish memory kicks in.
He explicitly references the Good Friday Agreement, reminding readers that peace in Northern Ireland only became possible when former paramilitary leaders were brought into the process. The logic is cold but proven: you don’t make peace with friends. You make it with enemies you’d rather never sit across from.
Quoting Yitzhak Rabin, Bono reinforces the point: peace is negotiated with “very unpleasant enemies,” not ideal allies.
Bono doesn’t hedge when addressing Israel’s far-right voices calling for Barghouti’s death. His message is stark: killing Barghouti would mean executing the peace process itself.
No process, no peace. And right now, he argues, there is neither.
This isn’t rock-star moralizing. It’s a calculated political argument rooted in history, conflict resolution, and lived experience. Bono isn’t asking anyone to like Barghouti. He’s saying peace doesn’t care about likability.