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A Palestinian boy flashes a victory sign while others hold pictures of Marwan Barghouti
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RAMALLAH,
West Bank, October 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - "You can
put Marwan Barghuti on trial, but you can't try the Intifada"
said a loudspeaker, as hundreds of Palestinians marched Thursday,
October 3, in Ramallah to support a hometown hero on trial in Israel.
Meanwhile,
various demonstrations also in support of Barghuti were staged in the
West Bank and Gaza.
Draped
in Palestinian flags and carrying portraits of the West Bank chief of
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, they marched
into the city's central square behind a banner demanding "freedom
for Marwan and all prisoners," Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
"When
I see this crowd, I am proud of my brother and of the Palestinian
people," said Barghuti’s brother, Muqbel.
"Marwan
is becoming the symbol of the Intifada," the two-year-old
uprising against Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, said
his brother.
Meanwhile,
Marwan's wife, Fadwa, said she was going to hurry through the demo so
she could get back to the television to watch her husband's trial in
Tel Aviv.
"Marwan
is still standing up and resisting the occupation. The Palestinians
are doing the same. We are entering the third year of the Intifada
with the same determination as we had at the beginning," she
said, addressing the crowd by loudspeaker.
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Palestinians chant slogans supporting Marwan Barghouthi during a demonstration in the West Bank City of Ramallah |
Fliers
were handed round the crowd with a declaration by Barghuti reiterating
his refusal to deal with the occupation court and calling on all
Palestinians to brave the curfews and carry on their lives to defy the
occupation.
Barghuti,
is accused by Israel of heading the Al- Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a Fatah
off-shoot, which Israel claims killed dozens of Israelis.
He
was abducted in Ramallah in April after the Israeli army first
re-invaded the town, just north of occupied Jerusalem.
"We
refuse this trial. We will never accept any decision taken by this
court," said Fatah central committee member Sakher Habash.
"We completely reject the accusations of terrorism, he added.
"Barghuti
and the others are freedom fighters," he said
Barghuti's
lawyers argued in court Thursday, October 3, that Israel had kidnapped
Barghuti, also a member of the Palestinian legislative council, in
violation of international law and an existing accord between Israel
and the Palestinians.
Elsewhere
in the West Bank, around 1,000 Palestinians held a demonstration in
front of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to mark the
resumption of Barghuti's trial.
A
senior member of the Palestinian Authority called for Barghuti's
immediate release, along with that of all other Palestinian prisoners
held in the Jewish state.
"The
trial (of Barghuti) is null and void, since Israeli justice is not
entitled to try a member" of the legislative council, or
parliament, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.
In
other shows of support, 200 Palestinians staged a sit-in outside
offices of the Red Cross in Gaza City, while 300 others demonstrated
in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip.
