The Israeli Supreme Court suspended the deportation to the Gaza Strip of two relatives of Palestinian activists until their cases are heard. The court banned the army from deporting Kifah Adjuri, 28, and Abdel Nasser Assidi, 34, and demanded it justify this action within two weeks.
The case of a third Palestinian facing expulsion from the West Bank, Intissar Adjuri, 34, was being handled separately.
Palestinian Authority head Yasser Arafat, commenting on the expulsions, said "it is a crime that cannot be accepted, that is against international and humanitarian law."
Mark Sofer, a spokesman at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said Israel had no choice. "The huge suicide attacks we faced here in Israel over the past few weeks and months forced us to take unusual measures that we had prefer to avoid," he said.
Barghouti trial
Marwan Barghouti, one of the most prominent leaders of the Palestinian intifada, will go on trial Wednesday, facing charges of orchestrating attacks that killed or wounded scores of Israelis, his lawyer said.
Barghouti, the West Bank chief of Fatah movement, maintains he is only a politician, but Israel says he was the key player in organizing attacks by members of Fatah, AP reported.
"He describes his role as that of a political leader, and leader of the uprising, but he does not consider himself responsible for the killings of Israelis," Khader Shkirat, one of his lawyers, said. Israel will formally file charges against Barghouti on Wednesday morning, Shkirat said.
"This is a golden opportunity to try the (Israeli) occupation for all the crimes committed against the Palestinian people, and to present the resistance movement as a just movement before the Israeli public and the international community," Shkirat said.
Truce
Islamic Jihad will not stop its attacks inside Israel, a Gaza leader of this group said, echoing Hamas' rejection of calls from the Palestinian leadership for a truce.
"Islamic Jihad will continue its resistance to the occupation, even if we reach an agreement on the document" under discussion, which focuses on forging a united Palestinian leadership and not on halting such attacks, said top Jihad leader Mohammed al-Hindi. "There is no change in our position in regard to the resistance," he said, according to AFP. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
