AL QUDS, May 20: Marwan Barghouti, found guilty by an Israeli court on several counts of murder on Thursday, is one of the main inspirations behind the intifada and remains Yasser Arafat's natural successor in the eyes of many Palestinians.

The Tel Aviv district court found Mr Barghouti guilty of four of the 37 charges against him, in the highest-level "terror trial" held since the uprising broke out in September 2000.

He was found directly responsible for the deaths of four Israelis and a Greek Orthodox monk in three separate attacks, prompting the prosecution to recommend five life sentences and another 40 years in jail for an attempted attack.

Mr Barghouti, who denied all charges, is due to be sentenced on June 6, which will also be his 45th birthday. Raising his cuffed hands as he walked into the courtroom, Mr Barghouti said: "My future is not important, even if I die in prison. The day of my freedom will come when the Palestinian people are freed from the occupation."

Although the two years he spent in prison saw other Islamist groups and their leaders take centre stage, the firebrand leader has never been replaced as head of Arafat's mainstream Fatah group in the West Bank.

Opinion polls shows Palestinians see him as the only leader besides Arafat who enjoys sufficient legitimacy to both impose his will on militants and capable of talking to the Israelis.

Those distinctions have earned the squat and pugnacious Barghouti a place in the national myth and a variety of nicknames, including the Father of the Intifada and the Palestinian Napoleon.

Protests demanding his release regularly attract thousands, and his 19-year-old son Qassam's recent imprisonment on charges of involvement in an anti-Israeli attack have contributed to his image as a "martyr".

Mr Barghouti has always remained defiant during his open court appearances despite months in solitary confinement. His stubble and fiery eyes have become the face of Palestinian resistance.

But from his Israeli prison cell, he also remained a powerful behind-the-scenes player and was the architect a truce by Palestinian factions last summer which collapsed in bloodshed a few weeks later.

He rose to prominence after the intifada broke out. In August 2001, after a car in his convoy was blown up by an Israeli missile, he vowed to escalate the Palestinian resistance and promised more military operations against Israel.

Mr Barghouti was a major target when the Israeli army launched its huge assault on militants in the West Bank in the spring of 2002. He was arrested on April 15 that year and consistently rejected the court's authority to prosecute him. -AFP