Four Israeli Leftists Sentenced for Meeting PLO

Four Israeli leftists were sentenced today to six months in jail and fined $2,000 each for meeting members of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Romania two years ago.

They were the first Israelis to be convicted under a law forbidding contacts with “terror groups.” They had defied the law when they joined a 29-member delegation to meet 15 Palestinians in the Romanian resort of Costinesti, the prosecution said.

The magistrates court sentenced journalists Latif Dori and Yael Lotan, peace activist Reuven Kaminer and Eliezer Feiler to six months in jail which they could work off in community service and ordered them to pay a fine of $2,000 each and court costs. They said they would appeal to the Supreme Court.

In other legal action today, the Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling and increased the sentence of a West Bank Jewish resident from six months’ community service to three years in prison for killing a Palestinian. The Israeli was convicted of shooting a Palestinian girl from Nablus during a clash in the city.

Also today, an 18-year-old Palestinian who was shot during a clash with Israeli soldiers died, Arab reports said. Arafat Awad Hanani died of injuries suffered in a clash June 16 in Beit Furik, near Nablus. His death brought to 213 the number of Palestinians killed in the nearly 7-month-old uprising against Israeli rule of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Four Israelis have died.