Palestinian Uprising Leader Faces Israeli Trial

14/08/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Resistance to Occupation a Crime Under Israeli JUSTICE||Israel's High Court Issues Temporary Injunction against Deportation||CIA Chief Works on Mideast Security||Bush Rejects a 5.1 Billion dollar Aid Package to Israel & the Palestinians|| STORY: Israel will Wednesday indict Marwan Barghouthi, a popular leader of the Palestinian uprising, for murder, launching its first civilian trial of a senior Palestinian official since the revolt began in 2000.

Criminal proceedings against Barghouthi, a high-profile tribune of the uprising against Israeli rule before his April arrest, will put on trial not only the charismatic Palestinian leader but also Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction which Barghouthi headed in the West Bank.

Barghouthi was expected to appear in a Tel Aviv district court to be formally charged with murder, attempted murder and other crimes related to a slew of deadly attacks by the a Resistance group he is accused of heading.

RESISTANCE TO OCCUPATION A CRIME UNDER ISRAELI LAW

Israel accuses Barghouthi of running the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group in Arafat's Fatah faction behind Resistance bombings and other attacks which killed scores of Israelis in the 22-month-old uprising.

A Justice Ministry official branded Barghouthi a "murder chieftain" and said "it appears (he) led, managed, financed and activated much terrorist action."

Abbas Zaki, a member of the central committee of Arafat's Fatah movement, accused Israel of trying to stage a political show trial and predicted it would backfire and turn Barghouthi into a "great national symbol."

Barghouthi, general secretary of Arafat's Fatah movement in the West Bank and a possible successor to Arafat, could face up to life in prison if convicted.

Polls taken since he was jailed showed a rise in his standing among Palestinians to second place behind Arafat.

ISRAEL'S HIGH COURT ISSUES TEMPORARY INJUNCTION AGAINST DEPORTATION

In another legal drama, a Supreme Court judge issued a 15-day injunction Tuesday against the deportation of three relatives of Palestinian assailants from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip while it considers a last-ditch appeal.

An Israeli occupation army tribunal had approved a decree Monday to deport two men and a woman 24 hours later, in a new tactic aimed at deterring Resistance bombers by punishing their families.

Military prosecutors have said the three listed for deportation helped bombers carry out attacks. Their defense lawyers said they had little knowledge of the militants' activities.

They face expulsion to the fenced-in Gaza Strip for up to two years in what would be the first deportations since the uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000 after talks on Palestinian statehood hit an impasse

Occupation troops also blew up the family homes of a Resistance bomber and a Resistance gunman in the West Bank as relatives watched.

Palestinian officials and human rights activists denounced both tactics as collective punishment, saying they would undermine efforts to end 22 months of bloodshed.

CIA CHIEF WORKS ON MIDEAST SECURITY

U.S. CIA Director George J. Tenet is resuming contact with Palestinian officials on a new security plan for the West Bank and getting ready to put it into operation, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday.

The aim is to screen out Resistance bombers whose deadly attacks on Israel have deepened Israel's distrust of the Palestinian Authority and caused President Bush to demand the ouster of Yasser Arafat.

After talking to Tenet, Powell said the meeting the CIA director held on Saturday with Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, the Arafat-appointed Palestinian interior minister, at CIA headquarters in northern Virginia was a very positive and productive meeting.

The CIA director told Yehiyeh he intended to review security measures proposed by the minister and also the findings of a CIA assessment team.

The Bush administration is busy on other fronts as well. Egypt and Jordan have volunteered to help train Palestinian policemen.

BUSH REJECTS MIDEAST FUNDING IN SPENDING SHOWDOWN

Vowing to rein in government spending, President Bush Tuesday rejected 5.1 billion U.S. dollars that Congress has authorized to aid Israel and the Palestinians, improve airport and nuclear security and fund other programs.

"If the Congress won't show spending restraint, I intend to enforce spending restraint," Bush said.

The president made the announcement at an economic forum he is hosting at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, as part of an effort to shore up confidence in his administration's economic stewardship as stock markets have tumbled and federal budget deficits have ballooned.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israel said August 13, 2002 Tuesday it would charge Marwan Barghouti, a popular leader of the Palestinian uprising, with murder, but its bid to deport relatives of militants was blocked by the country's highest court. An August 6, 2001 file picture shows Barghouti, general secretary of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, in the West Bank. (Osama Silwadi/Reuter