A Palestinian Leader Begins Murder Trial
Shouting in Hebrew, “The intifada will win,” a handcuffed Marwan Barghouti, popular leader of the Palestinian uprising, entered an Israeli civil courtroom today for the start of his murder trial.
“Peace will be achieved by the end of the occupation. No peace, no security, with the occupation,” the bearded Barghouti, in a brown Israeli prison uniform and surrounded by police, told reporters in Tel Aviv District Court.
Israel accuses Barghouti of running the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant group linked to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction that has carried out suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed scores of Israelis.
Barghouti, Fatah’s West Bank chief, says he is a political leader and is not involved in violence.
In another legal drama, a Supreme Court judge Tuesday issued a 15-day injunction against the deportation of three relatives of Palestinian militants from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip while the tribunal considers a last-ditch appeal.
A military court had approved Monday the deportation of two men and a woman.
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