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-News for Wed. 24 April & Thur. 25
April 2002 Palestinian Court Sentences Killers of Israeli Minister  VOA News 25 Apr 2002 17:03 UTC   A Palestinian military court has convicted and sentenced four militants to jail terms for killing an Israeli cabinet minister last year. Israel quickly dismissed the move. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is still insisting the men be handed over to Israel for trial before he ends the military blockade of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. Later in the day, Israeli forces allowed the Ramallah governor to leave Mr. Arafat's besieged compound, where he has been trapped with other Palestinian officials since Israeli forces invaded the city a month ago. The makeshift court, convening in Chairman Arafat's headquarters, found the four defendants guilty in the October assassination of Israel's ultra-nationalist tourism minister, Rehavam Zeevi, in Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority says the sentences range from 18 years with hard labor to one year, and that Mr. Arafat ratified the decision. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine denounced the court action as invalid and a farce. It demanded the Palestinian Authority cancel the ruling. The PFLP says it killed the Israeli minister to avenge Israel's killing of the group's leader, Abu Ali Mustafa, in a helicopter strike last August. Early Thursday, Israeli soldiers killed one Palestinian and arrested four others during a raid in Hebron. The Israeli army also says its troops killed four Palestinians who tried to attack a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces killed two other Palestinians in separate incidents. Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.
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