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| Middle East |
| Israel will prosecute Marwan |
| 2002-07-11 |
| Israel announced Thursday it will prosecute Marwan Barghouti in connection with deadly attacks against Israeli civilians. The trial would be the first involving a senior Palestinian figure in years. Israel hopes to prove the complicity of the highest levels of the Palestinian leadership in terror attacks during the 21-month uprising against Israel. Barghouti, 42, was a fiery speaker at street protests until Israeli troops detained him April 15 outside the West Bank town of Ramallah. He has not been charged. Barghouti is the head of Fatah in the West Bank, and in recent public opinion surveys of Palestinians, he has been second in popularity only to Arafat himself. Israeli Justice Ministry spokesman Yaakov Galanti said Israel planned to try Barghouti together with four other Palestinians in civilian court because of their connection "to several attacks in Israel.'' The spokesman did not specify the attacks. Besides being "a fiery speaker" at street corner rallies, Marwan is also the head of Tanzim. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |