OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 3 January — Israeli security forces yesterday detained a leading Palestinian rights activist twice and beat him up.
Israeli police first arrested Mustapha Barghouti for holding a press conference in Jerusalem without permission. He was then taken to the Ar-Ram checkpoint on the road to Ramallah.
As he waited for his car to pick him up, a group of international supporters and press gathered around him, and soldiers moved in to arrest him for a second time.
The soldiers fired sound grenades and then tried to push their way through the supporters to grab Barghouti, the head of the largest Palestinian non-governmental organization concerned with health issues. In the scuffle, several supporters were beaten up by the soldiers, as was Barghouti who was hit in the face.
He was then arrested and taken to another police station in East Jerusalem which he refused to leave until his lawyer arrived. He was later freed.
Israel insisted yesterday that Palestinian attacks stop for seven days before it will implement the truce-to-talks plan that a US envoy aims to save on a renewed mission this week. But it held out a possible easing of its blockade on Palestinians after a drop in the number of attacks.
Retired US Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, who left the region in mid-December, is due back today for a four-day visit.
Zinni’s return comes at just the right moment to push both sides back toward negotiations after the decline in violence, according to the UN’s envoy for the Middle East. "There has been a considerable betterment of the security situation, which should pave the way for both parties to move forward together," Terje Roed-Larsen said after meeting Arafat.
Underscoring the division within the Israeli government coalition, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the drop in the number of attacks might already approach what was needed to put US-backed plans into motion. But a statement from the office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said: "The prime minister emphasized again the need for seven days of absolute quiet."
