A Palestinian leader accused of killing 26 Israelis refused to return to a courtroom today after a shouting match that ended with him being dragged off the floor and hauled out by police.
An Israeli judge ordered that Mr Marwan Barghouthi, a Palestinian legislator and a West Bank leader of President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, remain in jail until proceedings against him end.
Accused of masterminding attacks on Israeli citizens, Mr Barghouthi was met on his entry into the Tel Aviv courtroom by what has become a regular chorus of abuse from relatives of some of the dead.
Handcuffed and surrounded by police, Mr Barghouthi responded, as he has in the past, by shouting: "The Intifada will win. The peace will win and the occupation will be defeated".
This time, he fell or was pushed to the floor when police pulled him out of the courtroom in an apparent attempt to end his outburst.
Afterwards his lawyer, Mr Jawad Boulous, told Judge Zvi Gurfinkel that Barghouthi (43) would not re-enter the chamber for the rest of today's session in protest at his treatment.
Mr Barghouthi has denied any role in attacks by militants, including those by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to Fatah that has killed dozens of Israelis since the Palestinian uprising against occupation began in September 2000.
Palestinian officials say Israel is conducting a show trial against Mr Barghouthi, one of the uprising's leaders.