MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 8/17/2002:
Last week when Marwan Barghouti was indicted we immediately termed it
the "Trial of the Intifada" and asked "Is Israel Creating A Palestinian
Mandela?" Now this weekend we learn that Nelson Mandela himself thinks so,
plans to attend Barghouti's trial, and who knows, may even want to testify
in Barghouti's defense (unlikely to be allowed by the Israeli court).
Also this week we learn, thanks to another thoughtful article in Israel's
Ha'aretz weekend Magazine, that one of former Prime Minister Netanyahu's
nephews is in prison refusing to serve in the Israeli Army because of
Israel's oppression and occupation of the Palestinian people. Israel has been
politically fractured for some time actually, with the divide continuing to
widen. Nearly thirty years ago now the son of Moshe Arens, on his way to
becoming Israel's Defense Minister, refused to serve in the Israeli Army and
was forced to leave the country rather than face imprisonment.
These two articles together make great weekend reading. Maybe there is
even a teeny little ray of hope still to be seen at this dismal time with
potential "armageddon" -- including "transfer" [ethnic cleansing], regional war,
and even biological-nuclear confrontation -- looming...and all quite possibly
leading to still future generations of hatred and escalating conflict even more
frightening.
MANDELA TO OBSERVE FATAH LEADER'S TRIAL
By Jonathan Steele in Tel Aviv
The Guardian (UK) - Thursday August 15, 2002: In a major embarrassment to
Israel, Nelson Mandela has agreed to observe the trial of a Palestinian
leader formally indicted yesterday on charges of murder and terrorism.
A lawyer for Marwan Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian legislative
council and secretary general of the Fatah movement in the West Bank,
revealed he had been in South Africa last week to invite the former
president to the trial.
"He said he was enthusiastic about coming," Khader Shkirat said. He quoted
South Africa's most famous political prisoner as saying: "What is happening
to Barghouti is exactly the same as what happened to me. The government
tried to de-legitimise the African National Congress and its armed struggle
by putting me on trial." Mr Barghouti was arrested in April and is the first
senior Palestinian to be put in the dock in the two years of the uprising
against Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
The trial is bound to raise emotions on both sides of the
Israeli-Palestinian divide and is seen as a high-risk gamble by Israel to
try to paint Mr Barghouti and the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, as
directly linked to the suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli
civilians.
Palestinians see Mr Barghouti as a national hero, second only to Mr Arafat
in popularity, and the trial is expected to give him even more support. His
lawyers hope to use the trial and the linguistic fluency and charisma of their
client to put the Israeli occupation in the dock.
Raising his handcuffed arms in his first public court appearance yesterday,
at the district court in Tel Aviv, Mr Barghouti told Israeli reporters in
Hebrew: "The intifada will win." In English, he went on: "I am a peaceful man. I
was trying to do everything for peace between the two peoples. I believe the
best solution is two states for two peoples."
The indictment, read in part yesterday, branded him an "arch-terrorist whose
hands are bloodied by dozens of terror actions".
-------------------------------------------
Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
--
In the contradiction lies the hope.
--Bertholt Brecht
_______________________________________________
Leninist-International mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To change your options or unsubscribe go to:
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
