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Israeli court finds Barghuthi guilty <br><br>
Thursday 20 May 2004 9:14 AM GMT <br><br>
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<b>An Israeli court has convicted Palestinian leader Marwan Barghuthi on
murder charges over the killings of five Israelis by resistance fighters
from his Fatah movement. <br><br>
</b></font><font size=2>The court in Tel Aviv on Thursday acquitted
Barghuthi - whose popularity is second only to Palestinian President
Yasir Arafat's - of orchestrating attacks that led to the deaths of more
than 20 other Israelis. <br><br>
The influential legislator categorically denies the accusations and
rejects the trial proceedings as illegitimate. He was seized in 2002.
<br><br>
Prosecutors asked for five life sentences for the Intifada champion,
widely seen as a potential successor to Arafat. <br><br>
Barghuthi warned that the Intifada would only end when Israel ended its
occupation.<br><br>
"As long as Palestinian mothers are weeping, Israeli mothers <br>
will also weep," he said. <br><br>
<b>Bargaining chips<br><br>
</b>Following the court's decision, resistance fighters said they will
kidnap Israeli occupation soldiers to exchange them for
Barghuthi.<br><br>
A Gaza leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said the resistance
movement will make abducting troops a "top priority".
<br><br>
On Thursday, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip said
they felt Barghuthi's trial placed their uprising on trial, reported
Aljazeera correspondent Walid al-Umari. <br><br>
Following the conviction, Justice Minister Yosef Lapid <br>
said Israel might consider putting Arafat on trial.<br><br>
But a senior Israeli source said there were no immediate plans <br>
for prosecuting Arafat. Lapid said Israel had not brought Arafat to trial
already because it did not want to prosecute public figures. <br><br>
<b>Symbol of resistance<br><br>
</b>Barghuthi's trial has made him a symbol of the three and a half year
Palestinian uprising. <br><br>
His verdict comes at a time of high tension as Israeli occupation troops
wage a bloody invasion in the occupied Gaza Strip refugee camp of Rafah
which has left at least 46 Palestinians dead. The majority of those
killed have been civilians. <br><br>
"As a political prisoner his popularity has surged more than ever
before to the level of a Nelson Mandela," Fatah lawmaker Qaddura
Faris said, referring to the iconic South African former president who
emerged from prison to defeat apartheid. <br><br>
Supporters believe that finding Barghuthi guilty would only bolster
him.<br><br>
"I am against killing innocents. But ... I am proud of the
resistance to Israeli occupation. To die is better than living under
occupation," Barghuthi told prosecutors at one hearing. <br>
<br>
He has reportedly used mobile phones smuggled into his cell to help
broker short-lived ceasefires between Palestinian resistance groups and
Israel.<br><br>
</font><font size=3><b>Agencies<br><br>
<br>
</b>You can find this article at:<br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/429B3AE1-5AED-4DED-9440-6434411904ED.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/429B3AE1-5AED-4DED-9440-6434411904ED.htm</a>
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