Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Marwan Barghouti Arrested by Israel

Aired April 16, 2002 - 06:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: One man's martyr is another man's murderer, that's the grim reality of the Middle East crisis. Israel says it has captured the leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Marwan Barghouti. His official title is secretary-general of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

CNN's Chris Burns reports on Barghouti's changing roles and Israel's charges against him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Marwan Barghouti knows how to fire up a crowd, he's street wise, charismatic, a potential successor to Yasser Arafat. The Israelis arrested the secretary-general of Arafat's Fatah movement because they say he's fostered a bloody terrorist campaign by leading, directly or indirectly, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed faction of Fatah that's carried out suicide bombings. Barghouti denies the charge, though he has supported the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Barghouti has been alternately seen as a fighter, a peacemaker, then fighter again. As the first Palestinian uprising against the occupation broke out in 1987, Barghouti helped direct the movement from Jordan where Israel deported him. He returned with an olive branch under the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. He became a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and developed ties with Israeli politicians and peace activists. But the second intifada broke out in September 2000 after peace talks broke down.

Barghouti often attended funerals of those killed in the uprising. He condoned attacks on Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank and Gaza as legitimate means to end the occupation and to resist what he says are Israeli attempts to crush the Palestinian Authority itself.

MARWAN BARGHOUTI, FATAH SECRETARY-GENERAL: There is an Israeli plan to continue to destroy the Palestinian Authority, to try to topple Mr. Arafat and to destroy the Palestinian intifada and Palestinian resistance. But I think they failed to do that, and this will not stop the Palestinian resistance and the Palestinian intifada.

BURNS: But those Barghouti saw as freedom fighters are seen by others as terrorists. Israel says Barghouti also actively supported terror attacks inside Israel proper. Barghouti's ties to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades remain unclear, but Israel believes it has enough evidence to take the political (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and trying the highly popular leader many Israelis thought they could do business with.

Chris Burns, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com