Imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi delivered an eloquent defense of himself and the Intifada before an Israeli court. Khaled Amayreh reports from Jerusalem Speaking before Tel Aviv�s District Court on Monday, Marwan Barghouthi, who is being tried on trumped-up charges relating to his leadership role in Fatah, the mainstream faction of the PLO, slammed the Israeli occupation as �the highest degree of terror�. �We have been suffering under your sinister military occupation for over 36 years during which you killed us, tortured us, destroyed our homes and usurped our land. You made our life an enduring hell. We have an inherent moral and legal right to resist your occupation of our country. If you were in our shoes, you most certainly would do the same as we are doing. You would resist,� said Barghouthi during an hour-long polemic. Telling the court that it had no right to prosecute him, Barghouthi reminded Israelis that they had committed incalculable crimes and massacres against the Palestinian people in 1948, which culminated in the expulsion of the bulk of the Palestinian people from its ancestral homeland and dispersal to the four corners of the world. �It is I and my people who should be trying you for occupying my country and tormenting my people. We are your victims, you are our tormentors.� Barghouthi, who at the beginning of the proceedings observed a minute of silence and recited the opening chapter of the Holy Qur�an in memory of the estimated 2600 Palestinian victims killed by the Israeli army since the outbreak of the Intifada three years ago, warned the Israeli state against rejecting Palestinian statehood and narrowing Palestinians� horizon. �I hope the Israelis have learned that the Palestinian people can not be brought to yield with force. If the occupation doesn�t end unilaterally or through negotiations then there is only one solution, a one-state solution.� Barghouthi castigated the collective Israeli mentality, asking �how could Jews who suffered and survived the Holocaust allow themselves to indulge in insufferable persecution of another people?� The popular Fatah leader defended the Palestinian Intifada, describing it as a sublime moral act. �I am against killing innocent people, against murdering innocent women and children. All the time I said I was against military operations, but one must fight the Israeli occupation of our homeland. We are a people like all other people. We want freedom and a state just like the Israelis.� Denouncing the court as illegitimate, he did not take part in most of his trial, telling judges that �whatever the verdict, I will walk free as part of a political deal.� Barghouthi concluded his defense by reasserting his innocence. �I therefore urge this court and its justices to refuse to prosecute me and take a courageous decision to free me and join the conscientious voices calling for ending your occupation of my country and granting my people its rights to freedom, independence, security and peace.� Meanwhile, the German-mediated negotiations over the expected prisoner-swap between Israel and Hizbullah has run into a hurdle, apparently due to a last-minute intransigence by Israel over the categories of Arab prisoners whose release Hizbullah is demanding. The Israeli media reported that the Zionist state is refusing to release Palestinian prisoners �with blood on their hands�, a reference to imprisoned resistance fighters accused of killing Israelis. It is not clear at this point if the refusal is a mere pressure tactic aimed at extracting concessions from Hizbullah. Earlier, a petition to the Israeli High Court was brought by the family of missing Israeli pilot Ron Arad, whose plane was downed over southern Lebanon 17 years ago. The family petitioned the court to bar the release of imprisoned Lebanese clerics Sheikh Mustafa Dirani and Abdul-Karim Obeid. Both were abducted by Israel from their homes in South Lebanon more than 10 years ago. On Tuesday, the Israeli court postponed until 10 October a ruling on the petition. Earlier in the week, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah met with the representatives of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad organisations in Beirut in order to prepare the list of Palestinian prisoners that Hizbullah will insist be released in the swap. Some reports spoke of as many as 400 Palestinian prisoners due to be released, in addition to Lebanese, Jordanian and Syrian prisoners. However, the Palestinian official in charge of the prisoners portfolio, Hisham Abdul-Razeq, cautioned against excessive optimism, pointing out that negotiations were still underway and that no cohesive or final list of prisoners has yet been finalised. The inclusion of Marwan Barghouthi into the deal has also been the subject of conflicting reports. Palestinian officials, including Barghouthi himself, have indicated that he will be released. However, Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and several other ministers, asserted that Barghouthi would not be released. The imminent prisoner swap between Israel and Hizbullah is welcome news for ordinary Palestinians, especially the families and relatives of Palestinian prisoners who are spending multiple life sentences in Israeli prison. Needless to say, the swap is their only foreseeable chance to get their loved ones out of jail. Moreover, the fact that Israel has been negotiating with one of its most bitter enemies, Hizbullah, albeit indirectly, has a special significance for the Palestinians. This observation was expressed by the editor of the Palestinian daily, Al Hayatul Jadida, Hafez Al-Barghouthi. Barghouthi asked why Israel was willing to negotiate with Hizbullah but not with Arafat, although the former advocates the destruction of Israel while the latter accepts a political solution based on two viable states living side by side. He answered his own question � �Israel only respects the language of force.�
