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CounterPunch
October
4, 2002
Political Show
Trial for Marwan Barghouti
by WILLIAM HUGHES
Palestinian patriot, Marwan Barghouti, is on trial
before a three judge panel court in Tel Aviv. Israel has charged
him with organizing terrorist attacks that have killed 26 people.
This saga actually started over two years
ago. Then, the scheming Ariel Sharon made a deliberately provocative
visit to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a site sacred to Muslims,
that holds the Noble Sanctuary and the Al Aqsa mosque. He was
candidate for prime minister at that time. When Palestinians
protested his arrogance, four demonstrators were shot dead by
the Israeli police. The horrific violence that followed has left
more than 600 Israelis and 1,500 Palestinians killed, the vast
majority innocent civilians. It has made a wasteland, too, out
of many Palestinian villages and towns, like Jenin. And, it has
left permanent scars on Bethlehem, one of the holiest sites in
Christendom. It has also brought the terror of suicide bombings
to Israel Proper.
In order to shift the responsibility
for sparking this carnage from Sharon's outrageous conduct and
its own ongoing brutal 35-year old occupation, Israel has opted
for a political show trial. A conviction in Barghouti's case,
tying him to the suicide bombing attacks, will be used by Tel
Aviv in the court of public opinion. It will allow it to scapegoat
the Palestinians for all of the violence by bringing down one
of their most respected political leaders. But, the gutsy Barghouti
is up to their insidious blame-the-victim game and he is refusing
to play along.
At a preliminary proceeding on September
5, Barghouti strongly objected to the jurisdiction of the Israeli
court. When he said that Israel was guilty of "waging genocide"
and that he was a "fighter for peace for both peoples,"
(the Palestinians and the Israelis), the Presiding Chief Judge,
one Sarah Zerota, shouted at him, "One who fights doesn't
turn people into bombs and kill children" (Joshua Brilliant,
UPI, 09/05/02). Zerota's seriously biased comment came even before
a single state's witness had been heard in the controversial
case.
Article 10 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights guarantees Barghouti a right to be tried before
an "independent and impartial tribunal." Judge Zerota's
prejudicial opinion indicates that she has already made up her
mind about the defendant's guilt. It is fair to assume that her
guilt-before-trial mindset has polluted the other two jurists
as well, since neither objected to her rant. In addition, Article
11 (2) of that same international legal code, assures to every
defendant in a criminal proceeding, a presumption of "innocent
until proven guilty." Zerota's inflammatory remark tramples
on that important safeguard, too, and makes a mockery of the
possibility of a fair trial.
Barghouti, age 43, is a member of the
Palestinian Legislative Council (Parliament). He is the secretary-general
of Fatah, the largest secular Palestinian liberation movement.
He was forcibly abducted, on April 15, 2002, from Ramallah, during
an Israeli military sweep of the occupied West Bank. He has been
subjected for months to harsh interrogations in which "sleep
deprivation" and other "physical and psychological
abuse" were employed, according to the web site of the Campaign
to Free Marwan Barghouti.
It is also well documented by the Palestinian
Human Rights Monitoring Group, that the Israelis regularly engage
in systematic torture of detainees. In fact, 28 Palestinians
have died from April 7, 1994, until Oct. 18, 2001, while in the
custody of the Israelis.
Zionist Israel is a signatory to the
Oslo Accords of which Barghouti is a passionate supporter. The
Accords prohibit any Palestinian from being tried in a court
in Israel Proper for any alleged criminal offense committed within
the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. In addition, it
is a clear violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention
for Israel to transfer any citizen of the Occupied Territories,
particularly one with parliamentary immunity, to the jurisdiction
of the Occupier (Israel Proper).
As the prosecutor Dvorah Chen began to
read out the indictment against him, the articulate Barghouti,
who is fluent in Hebrew, interposed one of his objections, which
goes to the heart of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and to this
travesty of justice. He said, "There's a mistake here. The
one who should be sitting here (as a defendant) is the government
of Israel" (Steve Weizman, AP, Washington Times, 09/06/02).
Diplomats from the United Kingdom, German
and Norway were in the courtroom monitoring the proceedings,
along with a number of foreign reporters. According to Barghouti's
wife, Um al Qassam, an international campaign for solidarity
with her husband's status is gaining wide acceptance. She said
the initiative for justice was launched originally in "Paris
and extended to Belgium, German and South Africa." She has
spoken before the European Parliament on his behalf and has met
with several British MPs. "We are doing all we can to make
the world and all peace and freedom-loving peoples around the
world aware of this flagrant Israeli persecution of my husband
and my people" (Palestine Chronicle, 09/23/02). The trial
is to resume on Oct. 3.
In my opinion, Israel, an oppressive
occupying power, doesn't have the legal jurisdiction or the moral
authority to try this political "fighter for peace,"
nor will it give him anything resembling a fair trial. The truth
will never be reached in a Tel Aviv court room under these made-for-propaganda
circumstances. Parallels between Barghouti's plight and the ordeals
endured by Nelson Mandela at the hands of the apartheid government
of South Africa abound.
Justice demands the immediate release
of Marwan Barghouti.
William Hughes
is the author of Baltimore
Iconoclast. He can be reached at liamhughes@mindspring.com.
© William Hughes 2002
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