TEL AVIV, 21 May 2004 — An Israeli court yesterday convicted Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti of murder, drawing vows of defiance from the populist lawmaker seen as a successor to President Yasser Arafat.
“So long as occupation continues, the intifada (uprising) will not stop,” said Barghouti, 44. “As long as Palestinian mothers are weeping, Israeli mothers will also weep.”
In what Palestinians condemned as a show trial, a Tel Aviv court found Barghouti guilty on five counts of murder, but acquitted him of 21 other killings citing insufficient evidence.
Barghouti, a West Bank lawmaker and charismatic leader of Arafat’s Fatah faction, said throughout the case he opposed the killing of innocent people in the revolt that began in 2000.
Supporters said the verdict would bolster Barghouti among Palestinians for whom he is second in popularity only to Arafat.
Legal experts called the acquittals a blow to Israel’s attempt to assign wholesale blame to Palestinian leaders for violence by fighters alleged to be under their control.
“The court ruled you can’t attribute criminal responsibility to political leaders of organizations for acts committed by those organizations unless (the leaders) were directly involved in those acts,” said Israeli legal commentator Moshe Negbi.
But others said the trial, which drew intense international interest, demonstrated due process of law in the Jewish state.
“The fact that the judges acquitted him on several counts shows that they discussed the case thoroughly as they would any other,” Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid told Reuters.
Prosecutors asked the court to hand down five life sentences when it reconvenes on June 6.
The conviction came amid high tension at Israel’s bloodiest Gaza Strip raid in years. Some 40 Palestinians have been killed in Rafah refugee camp in three days.
Barghouti, seized by Israeli soldiers in a West Bank raid two years ago, mounted no formal defense, saying he did not recognize the legality of the proceedings against him.
Radical Palestinian group Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade said it would kidnap Israeli soldiers to secure the release of Barghouti.
“We will make the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers our No. 1 priority for the release of Marwan Barghouti and to release all our leaders and prisoners in Israeli jails,” a spokesman for the group said.
The court found Barghouti guilty of murder and complicity in attacks that killed a Greek Orthodox monk in the West Bank in 2001, an Israeli at the Jewish settlement of Givat Zeev in 2002 and three people at a Tel Aviv restaurant in 2002.
But it said the latter attack was carried out in Israel proper against the orders of Barghouti, who wanted to limit violence to the West Bank and Gaza — territories occupied in the 1967 Middle East war which Palestinians want for a state.
The verdict cited what it said were Barghouti’s confessions as well as testimony by alleged accomplices and investigators from the Shin Bet security service. He was also convicted on one count of attempted murder over a botched Jerusalem car bombing.
Reading from the ruling, Judge Sarah Sirotta pointed an accusing finger at Arafat, echoing Israeli government allegations that he encourages bloodshed.
“(Arafat) made sure his subordinates understood very well when he was interested in a cease-fire and when he was interested in terror attacks against Israel,” the judge said.
Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeinah said: “These are unfounded and baseless allegations. This is a pretext to continue Israel’s escalation and threats” against Arafat.
Lapid said Israel might well consider putting Arafat on trial “one of these days.” A senior Israeli source said there were no immediate plans for prosecuting the Palestinian leader.
Lapid said Israel had not brought Arafat to trial because it did not want to prosecute public figures.
Arafat has been largely confined to his half-demolished West Bank compound by Israeli forces since 2001.
