WEST BANK/ ISRAEL: ISRAEL SAYS THAT IT MIGHT CONSIDER "MAYBE ONE DAY " PUTTING YASSER ARAFAT ON TRIAL

Record ID: 400422

  • Title: WEST BANK/ ISRAEL: ISRAEL SAYS THAT IT MIGHT CONSIDER "MAYBE ONE DAY " PUTTING YASSER ARAFAT ON TRIAL
  • Date: 20th May 2004
  • Summary: (W5) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (MAY 20, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL MEMBER HANNAN ASHRAWI SPEAKING WITH JOURNALIST 0.05 2. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASHRAWI SAYING: "This court has no jurisdiction over Marwan Barghouthi. It's a criminal court in Tel-Aviv. Marwan was abducted, he was kidnapped from the Palestinian territorie
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK / TEL-AVIV, ISRAEL
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVADNIZG2FQUMX09ZMX48BXIR7NO
  • Story Text: Israel says Arafat may "one day" be tried.



    Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said on
    Thursday (May 20, 2004) that Israel might consider "maybe one
    day" putting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on trial
    after the conviction of an uprising leader from his Fatah
    movement for killing Israelis.

    "The court mentioned Arafat's guilt though he was not
    standing trial in the Barghouthi case and of course we
    could put him on trial and I'm quit sure he would be found
    guilty but we don't want to give him a showcase for
    propaganda against Israel," Lapid told Reuters Television.

    But Lapid added that there were no immediate plans for
    prosecuting Arafat, who has long been accused by the Jewish
    state of fomenting violence in an uprising since 2000.

    Arafat has always denied this.

    "Maybe one day we will decide differently but for the
    time being we don't think we'll put him on trial," Lapid
    said.

    Lapid spoke to Reuters after the conviction of
    Palestinian lawmaker Marwan Barghouthi, who has been seen
    as a potential successor to Arafat, who has been largely
    confined to his half-demolished West Bank compound by
    Israeli forces since 2001.

    A Tel Aviv court found Barghouthi guilty on five counts
    of murder, but said there was insufficient evidence to
    convict him in the killings of more than 20 other Israelis.

    Palestinians have condemned the verdict, calling it a political
    trial.

    "This court has no jurisdiction over Marwan Barghouthi.

    It's a criminal court in Tel-Aviv. Marwan was abducted, he
    was kidnapped from the Palestinian territories,"
    Palestinian lawmaker and member of the Palestinian
    Legislative Council (PLC) Hannan Ashrawi told Reuters.

    "It is very clear that he is being scapgoated," Ashrawi
    said.


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