Word: barghouti
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...Charging Barghouti in the public glare of a civilian court rather than in the shadowy secrecy of a military tribunal (more typically granted Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza) is a calculated political risk for Israel. The authorities aim to produce evidence - including testimony from, among others, two imprisoned Barghouti deputies who have apparently agreed to speak against their boss - portraying Barghouti as the operational godfather of the Al Aksa Martyr's Brigade, a Fatah offshoot responsible for scores of suicide terror attacks that have killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. Israeli officials hope such a charge will convince...
Time served in an Israeli prison is no liability for an aspirant Palestinian leader. That may be why Marwan Barghouti was positively loquacious during his first appearance in a Tel Aviv courtroom on Tuesday on charges of terrorism and murder...
...some Israeli right-wingers have warned that a civilian court will offer a political platform to the most articulate spokesman for the Palestinian intifada. Barghouti grabbed just such an opportunity during his brief appearance Tuesday, directing his political message at Israelis. And his lawyer has also made clear that Barghouti's legal defense is rooted in the premise that the Israeli court has no authority to try his client, something Barghouti's representatives have maintained since his capture by an Israeli special forces unit outside Ramallah...
...Whether that strategy is legally sustainable is doubtful, but it is politically sound. And there's certainly some doubt on the typically liberal Israeli bench over the extent and nature of Israel's legal authority in recently reoccupied territories. On the same day as Barghouti's appearance, Israeli Supreme Court judge Dalia Dorner stopped the Israeli military from deporting three relatives of a Palestinian suicide terrorist from the West Bank to Gaza. She ordered a 15-day reprieve, during which she wants to hear a detailed discussion on the legal issues involved - including the legal status of Israeli authority...
...while the Israelis hope to use the trial to mark the PA as a duplicitous terror infrastructure that systematically betrayed its security undertakings to Israel, Barghouti will portray Israel as a colonial master claiming authority over 3.5 million West Bank and Gaza Palestinians. Exhibit A: his own trial by a state in which he lacks the democratic rights of a citizen...