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Barghuti will sue Israel for genocide
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OCCUPIED
JENIN, West Bank, October 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The
Israeli occupation army destroyed Wednesday, October 2, the West Bank
home of a Palestinian resistance fighter abducted six months ago,
Palestinian security sources said.
The
house of Mohammad Bisharat, in the village of Tamoun, near Jenin, was
dynamited, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
At
the same time, Israeli security services abducted six Palestinians in
the West Bank, four of them on the country’s wanted list, Israeli
sources said.
In
the northern Israeli town of Afula, a bomb squad defused an explosive
device hidden in a bag that had been placed next to two gasoline pumps
at a service station, Israeli police said.
In
continuous aggression, the Israeli occupation forces staged an
incursion early Wednesday morning, in the village of Jabe, south of
Jenin, Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) reported.
Residents
of the village said that tens of military jeeps entered the village
from the West side and spread their forces on the farm lands.
Witnesses
said that the soldiers forcefully entered a number of residents homes
and an Apache helicopter threw tens of light bombs on the lands at the
eastern side of the village.
WAFA
also reported that the Israeli forces opened fire on a number of
residents homes in the early morning in the southern area in Rafah.
Witnesses
said that the firing was sudden and haphazard, which led to damages in
many of the residents’ homes.
In
another development, Marwan Barghuti, the West Bank leader of
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s mainstream Fatah movement on
trial for “murder and terrorism”, is preparing to accuse Israel of
genocide at his next hearing.
For
the prosecution, the Tel Aviv district court session on Thursday,
October 3, is aimed only at extending Barghuti’s custody, but
Arafat’s lieutenant intends to seize on the much-publicized trial to
list a number of charges against Israel.
“Marwan
is going to present against the state of Israel charges of war crimes,
genocide, massacre, torture and illegal demolitions,” Khader
Shkeirat, a lawyer for Barghuti, told AFP Tuesday.
During
a tumultuous hearing on September 5, Barghuti was formally read his
charges, of murdering or abetting the murder of 26 people and heading
the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Fatah.
If
found guilty, the 43-year-old Fatah leader faces life in prison, but
Shkeirat explained that his defense team, who had so far boycotted the
trial, will argue that the Israeli court has no jurisdiction to try
their client.
“We
are going to present our defense that the court has no authority to
try Barghuti who enjoys immunity as a member of the Palestine
Legislative Council,” or parliament, he said.
Barghuti’s
lawyers argue that the Israeli government has violated a number of
Israeli-Palestinian agreements as well as several provisions of
international law, by capturing, detaining and torturing the
Palestinian MP.
His
defense team says that his detainment on autonomous Palestinian
territory is an abduction violating the Oslo accords, while his
transfer to a prison inside Israel violates the Fourth Geneva
convention against transferring a detainee onto the territory of the
occupying power.
On
Thursday, the Israeli prosecution team will not press on with its case
against Barghuti, which it says includes witnesses and documents
proving his involvement in “terrorist” activities, but will merely
advance a technical plea to allow the extension of the deputy’s
custody.
Israel
considers it has the right to try anyone who committed crimes against
its citizens on its own territory and holds Barghuti responsible for
several attacks carried out inside Israel by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades.
“What
exactly is his argument is not clear,” said Israeli foreign ministry
legal expert Daniel Taub, dismissing Barghuti’s claim to immunity.
“One of the attacks he is indicted for took place a few blocks away
from the court.
“Barghuti
is trying to turn this into a political trial, but as far as Israel is
concerned, this is first and foremost a criminal trial,” he told
AFP, pointing out that “Barghuti hasn’t specifically denied any of
the charges.”
The
charismatic West Bank Fatah leader has become a symbol of the two-year
Palestinian intifada and the popularity derived from his role in the
revolt against Israel’s occupation has propelled him to the top of
the list of possible successors to Arafat.
For
the official indictment a month ago, wary that the hearing could be a
repeat of Barghuti’s first court appearance in August, when he
shouted defiance to the world media and protested his innocence,
Israel mobilized government spokesmen and victims’ relatives to
attend the session.
The
Palestinians are also stepping up their media campaign, with his
lawyers dedicating an entire website to Barghuti’s case and inviting
deputies from around the world to act as observers at his trial.
