JERUSALEM, Jan 11 (AFP) - One of Israel's most wanted men, Palestinian militant chief Zakaria Zubeidi, is ready to testify on behalf of a Jewish woman who went on trial for supporting terrorists Tuesday, defence counsel said.
Zubeidi wrote to the accused, Tali Fahima, 28, offering to appear in the witness box "under international protection", her lawyer Smadar Ben-Natan told AFP.
"We are ready to come to the court under international protection to testify that the purpose of your stay in the (Jenin refugee) camp was only to find out for yourself what are the lives of the Palestinians under occupation and this is what your state is afraid of," the letter reads.
"They are afraid of you Tali. They are afraid that hundreds of Tali Fahima will follow your example, overcome the obstacle of fear and become aware of the reality. You wanted to speak this reality and they are trying to gag you."
At Tuesday's hearing before the Tel Aviv district court, Fahima was formally charged with "aiding the enemy during wartime, contact with a foreign agent, illegal arms possession and supporting a terrorist organisation."
According to the Israeli press, she is the first Jewish citizen to be tried for aiding Palestinian militants.
A close friend of Zubeidi, she has paid him numerous visits in the northern West Bank town of Jenin, where he heads the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of the dominant Palestinian faction Fatah.
But she has always denied any wrongdoing and broke down in tears in court, complaining that she had been held in solitary confinement since her arrest last summer, Ben-Natan said.
She has been held under an administrative detention order of the sort usually imposed on Palestinians in cases where Israeli prosecutors have insufficient evidence to press charges.
She is specifically accused of handing Zubeidi classified military documents about an operation to capture wanted militants.
01/11/2005 15:08 GMT - AFP