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Court rules Israel can try Palestinian leader
TEL AVIV, Israel (CNN) -- The Tel Aviv District Court ruled Thursday that Israel has the right to arrest and try popular Palestinian figure Marwan Barghouti. Barghouti's attorneys have argued he must be viewed as a freedom fighter under the Oslo Accords and have said they will appeal the ruling to Israel's highest court. Israeli officials have charged Barghouti, the West Bank head of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, with murder, incitement to murder and of belonging to and acting on behalf of a terror organization. Barghouti has been accused by Israel of having links to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a military offshoot of the Fatah movement which has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings in Israel and been named a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Saeb Erakat, a member of the Palestinian Authority Cabinet, condemned the ruling as political. "Israel has no legal jurisdiction over Marwan Barghouti as a Palestinian citizen and as an elected member of the Palestinian Council in accordance with the agreements signed by Israelis and Palestinians. The Israeli decision to try Marwan Barghouti is a political and not a legal decision in violation of these agreements," said Erakat. Barghouti was arrested April 15, 2002, by the Israel Defense Forces in Ramallah during what Israel described as its campaign to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure of Palestinian militants in the West Bank. Barghouti faces 37 charges, including murder, attempted murder and involvement in a terrorist organization. Polls have shown that Barghouti is the most popular Palestinian figure after Arafat. Speaking from his jail cell to the Palestinian Legislative Council earlier this month, Barghouti said he believes the Palestinian national movement needs newer, younger leadership. According to one of his lawyers, Barghouti told the council: "It is the time for many of the Palestinian leaders and officials to leave their positions after failing in their roles and responsibilities in this decisive battle," referring to the two-year Palestinian uprising. According to the lawyer, he said Palestinian Authority officials should make way for younger leadership, but did not mention Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat by name. Arafat is 73. Barghouti is 43. "This should be done in a democratic and legal way as soon as possible," he said. The Palestinian Authority is scheduled to hold presidential and legislative elections in January as part of a plan to revamp its government. However, Palestinian officials have been saying it is unlikely that elections will be held as planned because Israeli troops encircling most of their cities have made it impossible for them to prepare. Recently, top Palestinian officials have said the armed uprising was a mistake and should stop but Barghouti has remained steadfast in his support of the campaign. "Resistance is a holy right for the Palestinian people to face the Israeli occupation," Barghouti said. "Nobody should forget that the Palestinian people negotiated for 10 years and accepted difficult and humiliating agreements, and in the end didn't get anything except authority over the people, and no authority over land, or sovereignty." Considered a charismatic, popular and dynamic speaker, Barghouti emerged as an influential leader during the first Palestinian intifada from 1987 to 1993.
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