ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct. 3 - Barghouti Calls On Palestinian To Defy Israeli Curfews.

Appearing in a Tel Aviv courtroom for a 3rd hearing in advance of his trial on charges of planning attacks against Israelis, Marwan Barghouti calls on Palestinians throughout the West Bank to defy Israeli curfews. Barghouti, the top West Bank official of Arafat's Fatah faction, has denied the charges and rejected Israel's authority to try him. His lawyers release his 54-count indictment of Israel. Barghouti, in shackles and a brown prison uniform, says: "I say one thing: The intifada will be victorious over the occupation... What is on trial today is the conscience of all freedom-loving people around the world". He says his crime is not terrorism but "that I insist on my freedom, freedom for my children, freedom for the entire Palestinian people. And if indeed that is a crime, I'd probably plead guilty". (Before the intifada began in late-Sept. 2000, Barghouti, who fluently speaks Hebrew and English, was regarded in Israel as a serious Palestinian advocate of a two-state solution. Some Palestinians suspect that Israel, in choosing make Barghouti such a high-profile defendant, is trying to build up his credentials in the Palestinian street as a fighter to improve his chances of ultimately succeeding Arafat. Israeli officials say the truth is simpler and uglier, calling Barghouti a terrorist whose trial will establish direct links between Arafat and the violence). Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that the Army has practiced an operation for expelling Arafat by helicopter, and has even scouted a destination, which it described as "an isolated location without any population or settlement in the near vicinity". The newspaper said the plan "is ready for immediate operation with very short notice". An Army spokesman said he could not confirm or deny the report.