Witnesses deny murder charges in trial of Palestinian leader

JERUSALEM -- Witnesses in the murder trial of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti denied he was involved in violence against Israelis and joined him Monday in refusing to cooperate with Israeli court.

In the second day of Barghouti's trial in Tel Aviv, the West Bank leader's Palestinian assistants covered their ears as Israeli prosecutors asked questions about their activities.

However, they also denied that Barghouti was involved in violence against Israelis.

The Israeli charge sheet alleges that Barghouti was directly involved in attacks that resulted in the deaths of 26 Israelis, acting as a conduit of funds and instructions to Tanzim and Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, violent wings of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement blamed for dozens of deadly attacks.

Barghouti, seen as a possible successor of Arafat, is the most senior Palestinian to be tried by Israel in 30 months of renewed fighting. He is a Palestinian legislator, and until his capture a year ago, he was the leader of Arafat's Fatah movement in the West Bank.

One of the witnesses, Nasser Shawish, said, "there is no one who doesn't know Barghouti," but denied that Barghouti backed any attacks on Israelis by militia gunmen.

Shawish said the court instead should try the Israeli soldiers who fired tank shells last year at a pickup truck owned by Hamas leader Hussein Abu Kweik, but instead killed the man's wife and three children.

As the trial continued, there was more bloodshed Monday.

In the northern West Bank town of Salfit an Israeli army undercover unit fatally shot a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Palestinian security sources said, adding that he had been on the run from Israeli forces.

Soldiers, who were planning on arresting him, shot the man when he ignored orders to stop as he fled a coffee shop, an army spokeswoman said.

In Gaza violence, soldiers patrolling the fence of the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in Gaza overnight fired on two suspicious figures, killing a Palestinian man. Troops later retrieved the body about 70 yards from Netzarim, the military said, and found he had a knife.

Armed Palestinians repeatedly have infiltrated Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, attacking settlers and soldiers they say are legitimate targets in their struggle for independence.

After nightfall Monday, two Palestinians attacked Israeli guards at the northern Israeli village of Metzer, next to the West Bank, leaving one of them with a serious stabbing wound, police and Israel TV said. The attackers escaped.

Also Monday, in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, troops arrested Maslama Thabet, another member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

Israel accuses Thabet of killing two Israeli restaurant owners who entered Tulkarem at the beginning of the Palestinian uprising. Thabet admitted to the killing in an interview in April 2001.

On the diplomatic front, visiting German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called for an end to Israeli-Palestinian violence, and his Israeli counterpart said the United States must lead Mideast peace efforts.

Fischer expressed support for the appointment of Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian prime minister, saying he backed a change in leadership to "have a real breakthrough toward security and an end to terror," he said.

Fischer plans to meet Arafat on Wednesday.

At a joint news conference, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said if Abbas shows "100 percent effort" to stop violence "he will find us there as a real partner for peace."

Shalom said the present Israeli government, unlike previous ones, would not conduct peace talks while violence continues.

Referring to a joint "road map" peace plan being formulated by the United States, Europe, Russia and the United Nations, Shalom said "there is a better chance to achieve agreement between both sides if this process will be led by the Americans."

Speaking Monday evening in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said "the latest events in the Middle East," indicating the war in Iraq, offer a "historic opportunity." But he added that "alongside the opportunities, there are also dangers." He did not elaborate.