By Barnaby Mason BBC's diplomatic correspondent

Israel's prosecution of a senior leader of the Palestinian uprising, Marwan Barghouti, before a civilian rather than a military court is a new departure.

The Israelis want to convince the world that the mainstream Palestinian Authority is a terrorist body

Mr Barghouti says he is simply a political leader, the head of the Fatah on the West Bank.

The Israeli authorities describe him as a murder chieftain, involved in acts of terror as the man in charge of the Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

It seems clear the Israelis are deliberately seeking maximum publicity in a civilian court.

They want to convince the world that the mainstream Palestinian Authority, including Yasser Arafat himself, is a terrorist body that organises suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.

'Golden opportunity'

But it is a high-risk strategy.

Barghouti is hugely popular with Palestinians

Mr Barghouti's lawyers say it will be a golden opportunity to put the Israeli occupation on trial for crimes against the Palestinian people, and to justify the resistance in the eyes of international opinion.

The trial is also likely to have the effect of enhancing the reputation among Palestinians of the man in the dock.

Already opinion polls suggest he is the second most popular leader after Mr Arafat - a hero of the second intifada, or uprising, that began almost two years ago.

New leaders

Mr Barghouti has an interesting past: before the intifada he was ready to talk to the Israelis and tried to persuade Palestinians to back a two-state peace settlement.

On that evidence, he might be the kind of new Palestinian leader the United States says it wants to emerge - except that the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, is having him prosecuted as a terrorist.

Down the road, though, the political situation could change.

A potential new leader of the Israeli Labour Party has emerged in the past few days, former general Amram Mitzna, and there has been talk of early elections in Israel.

It is not too fanciful to keep the name of Marwan Barghouti in mind as a possible successor to Yasser Arafat.