Profile: Marwan Barghouti's Trial For Murder and Terrorism Begins in Israel

All Things Considered: September 5, 2002

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti told an Israeli court today that it has no right to try him. He's charged with murder and membership in a terrorist organization. Barghouti is head of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in the West Bank. He was detained by Israeli troops in April. The beginning of his trial in Tel Aviv today has attracted widespread interest among both Israelis and Palestinians, as NPR's Linda Gradstein reports.

LINDA GRADSTEIN reporting:

Marwan Barghouti entered the Israeli courtroom unshaven and wearing a brown prison uniformed, shackled to an Israeli police officer. He clenched one fist and waved it in defiance. Barghouti said he did not recognize the authority of the court to try him and refused legal representation. Speaking in fluent Hebrew, he told the three-judge panel that Israel should be on trial, not him. He refused to enter a plea. Jowad Boulos, Barghouti's legal adviser, explains why.

Mr. JOWAD BOULOS (Legal Adviser): We had declared that Marwan's position vs. what Israel has done against him is not to recognize the right of Israel to arrest him, neither the right of Israel to bring him to trial. Marwan Barghouti being an elected member of the Palestinian Parliament, a political leader of the Palestinian people.

GRADSTEIN: Three of Barghouti's children were allowed into the courtroom today, but when they tried to approach their father Israeli police stopped them, prompting tears from Barghouti's 11-year-old son. Also in the courtroom were relatives of Israelis who had been killed in Palestinian terror attacks. They held up pictures of their loved ones and shouted `murderer' at Barghouti.

Speaking through an interpreter, 15-year-old Ruba Barghouti said going into the Israeli courtroom was a frightening experience.

RUBA BARGHOUTI (Defendant's Son): (Through Translator) And when I entered, they start shouting at us, screaming, and accusing of us being the sons or the childrens of a killer.

GRADSTEIN: Barghouti is the first high-level Palestinian leader to be tried in a civilian court since Israeli-Palestinian fighting began almost two years ago, and the trial has become a focus for the anger and frustration of both sides. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner represents some of the families of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks.

Ms. NITSANA DARSHAN-LEITNER: I know that the courts and the prosecution has a lot of evidence that connects Marwan Barghouti directly to these murders. Marwan Barghouti after all these things is nothing but a terrorist, and his punishment is to be in jail for life.

GRADSTEIN: Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Daniel Taub says Barghouti masterminded more than three dozen attacks on Israelis.

Mr. DANIEL TAUB (Foreign Ministry Spokesman): First and foremost, it's about justice. It's about justice for the victims of terrorism. You're talking about in this particular indictment 26 innocent people who were killed and hundreds injured. The killed include an eight-month-old baby and a 79-year-old woman, and we're talking about the right that the victims have to see justice done.

GRADSTEIN: Hours before Barghouti's appearance, Israeli police said they discovered a car packed with more than a thousand pounds of explosives. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said that if it had gone off, the car bomb could have caused hundreds of casualties.

In Gaza, there was more violence today. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in two separate incidents: in one case, when an Israeli tank ran over a mine; in the other, when a Palestinian gunman opened fire at troops. Linda Gradstein, NPR News, Jerusalem.

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