A Palestinian trader, Ahmed Hussein Stiti, 45, was killed and three people were injured by Israeli fire in Jenin, Palestinian sources said.
Also on Thursday, an Israeli man sustained moderate-to-serious injuries in a shooting attack near in the northern Israel, not far from the West Bank border. The man, an Israeli Arab, was working at the construction site for building the seam-line security fence, when Palestinians fired at the workers from the direction of the West Bank.
Israeli troops detained 35 Palestinians overnight in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Soldiers also found an explosives belt and a Kalashnikov assault rifle east of Tulkarem, Israeli Radio reported.
Palestinians fired a mortar shell Thursday morning at a settlement in the central Gaza Strip. No injuries or damage were reported, the radio added.
Barghouti
The trial of Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti resumed on Thursday with a request by the prosecution for his detention until the end of court procedings.
"We will be victorious over the occupation," Barghouti shouted before being led away as scuffles erupted between Palestinian spectators and families of Israeli victims.
An Israeli woman whose daughter was killed in an attack Barghouti allegedly helped orchestrate held up a picture of her slain child and shouted: "He is a vampire taking away the blood of Jewish children." Israelis and Palestinians started shoving each other until police put the two groups in separate rooms outside the courtroom.
The court's management said that it would take special precautions to prevent riots from occurring during the trial by restricting entrance to the floor in which the trial is to take place and restricting media presence in the hearing.
Khader Shkirat, one of Barghouti's attorneys, said Israeli police beat him and shoved him when he tried to get to Barghouti in the crowded courtroom. "I am so worried about Marwan's life ... He could be assassinated by the criminals, by the settlers, by the fanatic people inside the court," Shkirat said, according to AP.
Michael Tarazi, a legal adviser to the Palestinian Authority, distributed the indictment of Israel to reporters.
It accused Israel of violating about 30 international treaties, including the Geneva convention, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, denying health care to civilians, expelling and demolishing Palestinians' homes, destroying property, confiscating water, torture and denying education.
"Though I am the one in chains, it is not I who is on trial in Israel, rather what is on trial today is the conscience of all freedom-loving people around the world," Barghouti said in a statement.
"My crime is not 'terrorism' ... My crime is that I insist on my freedom, freedom for my children, freedom for the entire Palestinian people. And if indeed that is a crime, I'd probably plead guilty."
Blair comments
Meanwhile, a report which has reached Israel indicates that British Prime Minister Tony Blair coordinated his remarks Tuesday on Iraqi and Israeli compliance with United Nations resolutions with the U.S. government "right up to the last comma," Haaretz reported.
The Americans were also consulted about Blair's call for renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for a final status accord. The report relies on a source close to the White House, the newspaper said.
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday that many recent statements made by world leaders were "designed to placate the Arabs for various reasons, including the possibility of a war in Iraq."
In his appearance before a delegation from the World Jewish Congress, Sharon refrained from relating directly to statements made by Blair.
"Remember what happened in 1939, when the British enforced the White Paper policy and prevented the entry of Jews to Eretz Israel," Sharon said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
