Now Israel alleges that Barghouti has morphed into the West Bank’s principal terrorist. Investigators claim he dispatched gunmen to kill Israelis, including six at a bat mitzvah party last January, and bombers to blow up Israeli buses and cafes. Barghouti, an elected member of the Palestinian Parliament and a top figure in Yasir Arafat’s Fatah movement, says he’s the victim of a smear campaign aimed at clouding the real issue–Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But he’ll probably have to make that case in court: Israeli soldiers captured Barghouti two weeks ago, and while he has not been charged yet with any specific crime, he’s being questioned in jail. The Israeli overseeing the investigation is none other than Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit.
The story of Barghouti’s transformation is in many ways the story of the peace process itself–inflated hopes and crushing disappointments. For a while Barghouti was a poster boy for reconciliation. Israel had jailed him for six years and later deported him for “terrorist activity,” but allowed him back to the Palestinian territories in 1994. “He talked to everyone he could about the importance of the peace agreement,” says Barghouti’s wife, Fadha, surrounded by relatives at their comfortable Ramallah home. But slow-moving talks and rapidly expanding Jewish settlements fueled Barghouti’s discontent. (Over a seven-year period, the number of Israelis living in the occupied West Bank doubled to 200,000.)
As early as 1996 Barghouti was talking about Fatah’s possible return to the “armed struggle.” Like many other Palestinians, he expected things Israel could never deliver. “We are talking of the complete right of return,” he said in a 1999 interview, describing the Palestinian demand that millions of refugees be allowed to resettle inside Israel. “There is no compromise on Jerusalem, settlements or the right of return.”
Sheetrit believes that Barghouti switched from tough words to extremist actions during the latest intifada: “Maybe he felt he had to remain in step with the will of the people. Maybe he wanted to upgrade himself inside the Palestinian leadership. Maybe he wanted to compete with Hamas and Hizbullah. But he became a terrorist and that’s all that’s important.”
Some Israelis have suggested deporting Barghouti again, but officials now say he’ll be put on trial in a civilian court. Investigators say they have documents proving Barghouti directed operations for Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the shadowy group that has killed more Israelis this year than the number killed by Islamic extremists. “He delivered the orders, he funneled the money and in some cases he was personally involved in the planning of attacks,” says a top intelligence officer. The same source says several militants being interrogated have already fingered Barghouti as their leader.
Some Israelis worry that a trial could backfire, provoking more attacks against the Jewish state or even abductions aimed at leveraging Barghouti’s release. His jailing, in any case, will surely bolster Barghouti’s credibility among Palestinians. He could even re-emerge, eventually, as Arafat’s successor and Israel’s negotiating partner. “You never know,” said Sheetrit. “We released prisoners in the past when peace was at hand.” But that seems like eons ago, when Israelis and Palestinians were still bonding and occasionally nursing each other’s afflictions.
