RAMALLAH/GAZA CITY, 28 September — Jailed Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti urged Palestinians yesterday to press on with their revolt and warned Israel it would have security only when it stopped occupying Palestinian land.
Barghouti, responding in writing to questions posed by Reuters ahead of the second anniversary of the Palestinian intifada or uprising, urged Palestinians to "remain steadfast and to pursue the resistance until the occupation leaves our land".
"We tell the Israelis they will enjoy peace and security only after ending settlement activity and ending occupation and when we establish our independent state," he said.
Arrested by Israeli forces in April, he is the first major Palestinian player to be brought to trial by Israel since the uprising erupted in late September 2000. Palestinians dismiss the Tel Aviv court proceedings as a political show trial. Barghouti, a Palestinian lawmaker, has rejected the accusations, telling the court it has no authority to try him.
Thousands of protesters marched in the West Bank, Gaza and across the Arab world yesterday to mark the second anniversary of the uprising.
The demonstrations were held amid seething anger over an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City that wounded a number of civilians and drew international censure but failed to kill a Hamas activist. The resistance group Hamas vowed more bombings.
Matan Vilnai, a member of Israel’s security Cabinet, confirmed Palestinian reports that the target of the Gaza attack — Hamas commander Muhammad Deif — was injured but alive after missiles blew up his car on a crowded street on Thursday.
Some 12,000 Palestinians, many screaming for revenge, marched in funeral processions for the two men through the dusty streets of Khan Younis in Gaza. Palestinians and their Arab brethren elsewhere in the Middle East took to the streets to commemorate the anniversary of a revolt in which at least 1,570 Palestinians have been killed.
Tens of thousands of people, some chanting "death to Israel, death to America", marched through Beirut in a rally organized by the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah. "We should rise up to crush Israel," one banner read.
