Hudhaifa
30-09-03, 18:30
Barghouti Demands Freedom
Sep 30, 2003
Source: Gulf News
Palestinian Intifida leader Marwan Barghouti closed his trial in Israel on murder charges yesterday with a demand for independence for his people as the price of peace.
"We are a people like all other people. We want freedom and a state just like the Israelis," said Barghouti, a senior figure in Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction accused of orchestrating gun ambushes and suicide bombings that killed 26 people.
"Israel must decide: either it allows for a (Palestinian) state alongside it, or it becomes a state for two peoples," he said in an hour-long closing argument.
Barghouti, 43, denies the charges while supporting a three-year-old Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In keeping with his insistence Israel has no right to try him, he dismissed the prosecution's case yesterday. Instead, Barghouti took the stand in the familiar role of tribune for a people aggrieved by 1993 accords that failed to yield a state.
Meanwhile, the United States yesterday warned incoming Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei that his government must be prepared to fight anti-Israel attacks if he expects to work with the United States.
At the same time, the State Department declined to comment on reports that Qurei is set to name close allies of Arafat to his cabinet saying that it would not speak to individual ministers until they were in office.
"The new prime minister must be empowered to act decisively to end terror and violence," spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"He needs to be committed to move forward in a sustained manner on institution building and reform that will benefit all Palestinians.
"The issue is terror, the issue is ending terror and what we're looking to is to see what the government will do in that regard," he told reporters.
"We're also looking to see what the government has in terms of the ability and the authority to carry out that program and it must have control of all security forces.
"We need to see ... the commitment, the intention, the authority and the resources to combat terror and that's how we will judge any government that's formed," Boucher said.
Sep 30, 2003
Source: Gulf News
Palestinian Intifida leader Marwan Barghouti closed his trial in Israel on murder charges yesterday with a demand for independence for his people as the price of peace.
"We are a people like all other people. We want freedom and a state just like the Israelis," said Barghouti, a senior figure in Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction accused of orchestrating gun ambushes and suicide bombings that killed 26 people.
"Israel must decide: either it allows for a (Palestinian) state alongside it, or it becomes a state for two peoples," he said in an hour-long closing argument.
Barghouti, 43, denies the charges while supporting a three-year-old Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In keeping with his insistence Israel has no right to try him, he dismissed the prosecution's case yesterday. Instead, Barghouti took the stand in the familiar role of tribune for a people aggrieved by 1993 accords that failed to yield a state.
Meanwhile, the United States yesterday warned incoming Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei that his government must be prepared to fight anti-Israel attacks if he expects to work with the United States.
At the same time, the State Department declined to comment on reports that Qurei is set to name close allies of Arafat to his cabinet saying that it would not speak to individual ministers until they were in office.
"The new prime minister must be empowered to act decisively to end terror and violence," spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"He needs to be committed to move forward in a sustained manner on institution building and reform that will benefit all Palestinians.
"The issue is terror, the issue is ending terror and what we're looking to is to see what the government will do in that regard," he told reporters.
"We're also looking to see what the government has in terms of the ability and the authority to carry out that program and it must have control of all security forces.
"We need to see ... the commitment, the intention, the authority and the resources to combat terror and that's how we will judge any government that's formed," Boucher said.