(Baltimore Sun) Peter Hermann - Most Israeli officials believe Marwan Barghouti is not the man they once thought he was. Far from being a political reformer, they say, he is an unabashed militant, the financier of suicide bombers and gunmen who have killed dozens of Israeli civilians. Barghouti, general secretary of Arafat's Fatah faction for the West Bank, was arrested in April in Ramallah during Operation Defensive Shield. The Israeli army says Barghouti also commanded the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant wing that escalated its attacks from sporadic shootings of Jewish settlers in the West Bank to suicide bombings and attacks in Israeli cities. Among the PA documents captured by the IDF is a memo from a militant leader who wrote to Barghouti complaining that Palestinian security officials had confiscated an M-16 assault rifle and that he wanted it back. Handwritten at the bottom of the memo is this: "I request the return of the weapon to the brothers or suitable monetary compensation. Thank you and all the best, Marwan Barghouti." In another memo, Barghouti requests that Arafat approve paying 19 fighters $3,000 each, all of whom, he wrote, "are wanted by the occupation authorities." The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported that other papers show Barghouti provided money to Palestinians involved in the lynching of army soldiers in a Ramallah police station on Oct. 12, 2000. Israeli authorities have said that during interrogation, Barghouti confessed to his involvement in attacks. Barghouti's popularity in the West Bank is high, but his influence beyond Ramallah is not clear. In outlying villages and northern West Bank cities that serve as militant strongholds to rival factions, his directives are considered but not necessarily followed.
2002-08-14 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive