West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghuti, the man regarded as the inspiration behind the Palestinian intifada, was handed five life terms for murder by a court here Sunday, an AFP correspondent reported.
Barghuti's lawyer said that he would not appeal against the sentence which came after he was found guilty three weeks ago of being directly responsible for four militant attacks in which five people were killed.
He was handed two additional 20-year terms for being a member of a banned terrorist organisation and for conspiracy to carry out another attack.
Barghuti said as he was led away that the "intifada will triumph", raising his hands in a victory sign.
The prosecution had recommended that Barghuti, who was 45 on Sunday, be given five life terms after the initial verdict in what was the highest-level "terrorism trial" of the intifada.
The hearing at Tel Aviv district court had found Barghuti directly responsible for a June 2001 drive-by shooting which killed Georgios Tsibouktzakis, a Greek Orthodox monk from a monastery in the West Bank.
He was also convicted of the murder of an Israeli near the West Bank city of Ramallah in January 2002, as well as those of three Israelis who were shot dead when a gunman opened fire in a Tel Aviv restaurant in March the same year.
On entering the court, Barghuti had also issued a note of defiance, declaring that: "Our people will triumph and we will defeat this occupation."
As the judge started reading the sentence, he interrupted and asked to speak. They reluctantly agreed, letting him speak for five minutes, mostly in Arabic.
"The continuation of the intifada is the only path to independence. This occupation is the ugliest colonial occupation that humanity has known, but this occupation is dying and they had better start preparing for its funeral," he told the court.
"No matter how many they arrest or kill, they will not break the determination of the Palestinian people."
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