TEL AVIV (voa) – Israeli forces have killed a wheelchair-bound Palestinian militant they say was planning to blow up a high-rise building in central Israel.
Witnesses say Nasser Jarrar — a senior military leader for the Islamic group Hamas — was killed Wednesday when Israeli troops shelled and bulldozed a house in the West Bank village of Tubas, where he was staying. They say another Palestinian was killed and a third was arrested by Israeli forces in the incident.
The Israeli army says Mr. Jarrar was planning another attack despite losing both legs and an arm while preparing a bomb a year ago.
The attack came hours after Israel formally charged Marwan Barghouti, an alleged leader of the Palestinian uprising, with murder and orchestrating violence against Israeli civilians.
As he entered the Tel Aviv court, Mr. Barghouti, who denies the charges against him, called out in Hebrew that the uprising will be victorious.
Mr. Barghouti is the West Bank chief of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.
His lawyer says Israel has no authority to try his client, a member of the Palestinian legislature. The proceedings resume September 5.
Israeli forces arrested Mr. Barghouti in April in the West Bank. He is the first Palestinian leader to face trial in an Israeli civilian court since the uprising — or intifada — began in September 2000. Israel accuses Mr. Barghouti of heading the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a Fatah splinter group which has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
In another development, Israel’s security cabinet has finalized the route for the first part of a fence it intends to build between Israel and the West Bank. The 110 kilomter fence will put six Jewish settlements on the Israeli side of the barrier.
