The sentence handed down to Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti has bolstered his popular support, reports Khaled Amayreh from the West Bank An Israeli court delivered an extremely harsh sentence to imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti for his role in the Intifada against the Israeli occupation of his homeland. The 45- year-old lawyer was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences plus an additional 40 years in prison by an Israeli court in Tel Aviv on 6 June. A few weeks ago the same court found Barghouti guilty of masterminding "planned terror attacks" against Israel in which a number of Israelis were killed or injured. Barghouti protested his innocence throughout the trial, arguing that the Palestinian people were living under military occupation, which rendered resistance not only a legitimate right, but also a national and religious duty. He consistently refused to recognise the legitimacy and legality of his trial, arguing forcefully that the Israeli occupation regime should be on trial in his stead. The severe sentence seems to have had little effect on Barghouti's spirits, however. Following his sentencing he told the court that, "this decision is as corrupt, invalid and void of justice as is your occupation of my homeland." While being removed from court, he told reporters that, "the Intifada will continue until we establish our independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital." Barghouti's wife, Fadwa, described the verdict as a caricature of the classical relationship between the "occupied and the occupier, the tormented and the tormentor, the oppressor and the oppressed". She said her husband was being punished not because of what he did but rather because of what he represented. Fadwa Barghouti, herself a lawyer, said she was not surprised by the severity of the sentence. "This is within the normal order of things, in a certain sense. Occupation and justice... cannot co- exist." The Palestinian Authority (PA) criticised the harsh sentence, calling it "illegal and immoral". "This is an illegal court and it passed an illegal sentence and we don't accept or recognise it," said Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saaeb Ureikat. He urged the international community to intervene on Barghouti's behalf to obtain his release. PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei condemned the sentence, calling the Israeli court "a sham, and devoid of legitimacy and justice." He said the court had no right to try a freedom fighter like Barghouti. "We Palestinians don't recognise this sentence or even the court that made that sentence against Marwan Barghouti," he said. Hundreds of Fatah supporters and other Palestinians expressed their revulsion at the sentence outside his home on the outskirts of Ramallah. The protesters carried aloft Barghouti's picture, condemning his trial as a mockery. And a leaflet, issued ostensibly by Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, called for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers for the purposes of holding them ransom in return for Barghouti's freedom. Several Israeli and international peace activists also demonstrated in solidarity with Barghouti outside the courthouse in Tel Aviv. They also denounced the sentence as illegitimate, calling Barghouti "Israel's natural peace partner". One Israeli activist said Barghouti should be sitting at the negotiating table with Israelis rather than being imprisoned because of his struggle to obtain peace and freedom for his people. Barghouti is now one of the estimated 7,000 Palestinians currently imprisoned in Israeli jails and detention centres, many of who have not yet been charged or tried. The sentence handed down to the man seen by many as the natural successor to Yasser Arafat has served only to bolster his popularity among many Palestinians. Indeed, many of Barghouti's most loyal supporters refer to him as "Palestine's Mandela". The parallels are strong. Israel, like the former South African apartheid regime, views all forms of Palestinian resistance to its racist, colonialist occupation as "acts of terror". Further, it makes no difference whether the acts of resistance are carried out against soldiers rampaging in Palestinian population centres or paramilitary Jewish settlers carrying out a pogrom within a given Palestinian neighbourhood. Nor does the Israeli justice system make any distinction for acts of resistance against occupation forces within occupied Palestinian territories, as the sole and only criteria adopted by Israel centres on whether Jews are killed, injured or hurt, irrespective of the circumstances surrounding the given incident and regardless of whether non-Jews are killed or injured. The question arises if one day Barghouti will stand free, unshackled, like Mandela, as a symbol of justice against a discredited and overthrown system.
