This article describes how Israel's very public murder/terror trial against Marwan Barghouti has mega-boosted his popularity among Palestinians. There is speculation that the whole Mandela metaphor is being encouraged by Israel, as some Israelis (eg. the always naive Shimon Peres) think Barghouti is a desirable negotiating partner.

Barghouti and his lawyers are not claiming innocence, but have a creative argument about jurisdiction. Assuming that they're not dry legalists, Barghouti's international supporters are thus pretty much admitting that they think killing Israeli civilians is A-OK by them....

This and other articles say that some in Fatah are pushing for a "unilateral ceasefire" - they keep losing sight of the fact that what is actually being discussed is a halt to attacks on Israeli civilians (ie. a "shaheed-o-pause"). Such a halt can only be unilateral, since Israel doesn't target civilians .... or maybe that means that it's automatically bilateral.... whatever..