ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 14 - Barghouti Put On Trial.

Marwan Barghouti, a 44-year-old leader of Fatah's Tanzim militia in the West Bank, appears before a Tel Aviv district court to be charged with murder in connection with sponsoring terror attacks on Israelis carried out by Tanzim and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. (He was seized in a commando raid in Ramallah on April 15, the most important catch among hundreds of alleged militants arrested during Israel's Operation Defensive Shield). Prosecutor Dvora Chen says her evidence includes the testimony of Barghouti's purported associates, who are also in Israeli custody; documents seized by the Army during its raids into the West Bank in April, including some purporting to show Arafat's personal role in approving and financing terror strikes, and statements made by Barghouti himself during his interrogation. "The charges are murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder and activities in a terrorist organisation", Chen says. The charge sheet against Barghouti cites 37 attacks in which 26 people were killed and scores wounded. The indictment declares: "The accused, a Ramallah resident, heads the West Bank terror organisation. The accused was subordinate to Yasser Arafat, who heads the terrorist organisation". Barghouti denies the charges and shouts defiantly in Hebrew: "The intifada will win". He says: "I have charges against the Israeli government. I have a charge sheet with 50 clauses against Israel for the bloodshed of both people". He declares: "Marwan Barghouti is fighting for peace. Peace will be achieved by the end of the occupation. No peace, no security, with the occupation. The Israeli people are paying a heavy price for your government's actions. I believe the best solution for the two peoples is two states". Barghouti is not required to enter a plea ahead of the start of the full trial on Sept. 5. His lawyers argue that Israel has no authority to try him because he is a member of the PA Legislative Council and a political rather than a military leader. (Barghouti is one of the most popular figures among Palestinians, particularly the young, not only for his leadership of the uprising but also for criticising corruption and human rights abuses in Arafat's PA. During the Oslo process he was regarded in Israel as a potential peace partner from the younger generation of activists, who emerged in the first Palestinian uprising in the late 1980s, and as a possible successor to Arafat. Barghouti, who has a masters degree in international relations from Bir Zeit university near Ramallah, enjoyed close relations with a number of Israeli politicians before the intifada broke out in late-Sept. 2000. He speaks fluent English and Hebrew, a language he learnt during seven years in Israeli jails. Now he faces life imprisonment if convicted on a series of counts that range from murder to membership of a terrorist organisation. Israeli civilian courts reserve the death penalty for perpetrators of Nazi war crimes).