The Jerusalem District Court convicted Majdi Rahima Rimawi on Tuesday morning of masterminding the October, 2001 terrorist murder of Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

Ze'evi, known as Gandhi, was murdered in what was then the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood.  He had been breakfasting with his wife in the hotel dining room, told her that he saw an Arab constantly eyeing him, and then headed for his room to conduct a phone interview with Arutz-7's Hebrew radio newsmagazine.  As he was about to open the door, two terrorists of the PFLP (Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine) shot him in the head, and then escaped via a staircase at the end of the corridor.

Many Palestinian Authority Arabs in Judea and Samaria, upon hearing the news of Gandhi's death, celebrated in the streets, just as they had done a month earlier after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Justice is Served

Rimawi, in addition to his conviction for dispatching the above terrorists, was responsible for a series of other attacks in Israel, including car bombs and shootings.

Two of Gandhi's murderers have been sentenced to life in prison for the crime, and another terrorist was convicted of being their accomplice.

Lover of the Land

Rehavam Ze'evi, an IDF general, was known as a patriotic lover of the Land of Israel, especially Hevron, and was a leading proponent of transfer of Arabs.  Born in Jerusalem in 1926, he was a sixth-generation Jerusalemite on his mother's side. He and his wife Yael had five children, all of whom they gave names with modern Jewish-historic significance: Yiftach Palmach, Sayar Binyamin, Massada, Tse'elah, and Aravah.  The Ze'evi's had 19 grandchildren and one great-grandchild at the time of his death.

Ze'evi served in the IDF from its founding in 1948, headed the Central Command beginning in 1968, and retired from the army with the rank of Maj.-Gen.  He was appointed to be Prime Minister Rabin's advisor on terrorism and intelligence in 1974, and carried out many defense missions in various countries. In 1988, Gandi was elected to the Knesset as head of the Moledet Party that he founded.  He served as Minister Without Portfolio in the Shamir government for about a year in the early 90's, and became Tourism Minister in the first Sharon government.