TEL AVIV, Jan 2: Israeli army border guards on Wednesday beat a leading Palestinian rights activist just after he had been released by Israeli police at a checkpoint outside occupied Al Quds, supporters said.
Police had arrested Mustapha Barghuti earlier in the day for holding a press conference without permission, and had escorted him to the Ar-Ram checkpoint on the road to Ramallah.
As he waited for his car to pick him up, a group of international supporters and press gathered around him, and soldiers moved in to try to arrest him for a second time, supporters who were at the scene told AFP.
The soldiers fired sound grenades, which let off a loud bang, and then tried to push their way through the supporters to grab Barghuti, the head of the largest Palestinian non-governmental organisation concerned with health issues.
In the scuffle, several supporters were beaten by the soldiers, while Barghuti himself was hit in the face, the same sources said.
He was then arrested again, and taken back to another police station in east Jerusalem which he refused to leave until his lawyer arrived, they said.
He was later freed and left with his lawyer for the autonomous Palestinian town of Ramallah, where he was treated for minor injuries, they added.
The army declined to make any immediate comment.
Barghuti had originally been nabbed by plain-clothes Israeli policemen after a press conference for an international solidarity movement in a hotel in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem, an assistant and police said.
BICKERING: A day before the arrival of US special envoy Anthony Zinni, cracks widened in the Israeli leadership’s approach to dealing with the Palestinians after a dramatic drop in hostilities.
Right-wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated his unflinching stance that there must be seven days of complete calm before the ceasefire talks Zinni is meant to usher in can take place.
Zinni, who left the region two weeks after a massive explosion of violence, is only due to stay for four days this time round before returning to Washington for further consultations.
Sharon’s attitude, stemming from his oft-repeated refusal to “negotiate under fire,” was denounced by chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat as a bid to undermine Zinni’s mission even before he arrived.
And his own foreign minister, Shimon Peres, said that in light of a tailing-off of unrest after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ordered an end to all attacks, Israel should move rapidly on the so-called Tenet understanding, a US-drafted truce plan.—AFP
