A delegation of Israeli left-wingers and moderates challenged a 2-year-old law by attending a conference along with Palestine Liberation Organization observers, a participant said Wednesday. The delegates could face three years in jail if they are found to have violated a law passed in August 1986 which bars Israelis from meeting with members of the PLO, viewed by Israel as a terrorist group. In the first test case last month, a court convicted four Israelis for meeting with PLO officials in Costinesti, Romania in November 1986. The four have not yet been sentenced. Moshe Amirav, an Israeli delegate, told The Associated Press the Israeli group attended a three-day symposium last week along with Palestinian academics at the invitation of the Free University in Amsterdam. Two PLO officials, Afif Safieh and Ilan Halevy, attended the conference as observers but did not take part in its proceedings, he said. ``The law is stupid. But we will continue meeting in such a way that we won't be able to be accused of anything,'' Amirav said, adding that none of the delegates had been summoned for police questioning. The daily Hadashot reported Amirav actually met with the PLO officials, but Amirav denied the report. Other sources who attended the conference and refused to be identified said some members of the Israeli delegation did meet with the PLO officials. Amirav said other Israeli delegates included Nitza Shapira-Libai of the left-leaning Labor Party, a former adviser to then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres on women's affairs; former left-wing legislator Meir Pail, and human rights lawyers Naomi Chazan and David Kretzmer. Amirav is a former activist in the right-wing Likud Bloc who was expelled from his party for advocating direct talks with the PLO and far-reaching self-rule for Palestinians in the occupied territories. He enraged party leaders last year by meeting with Faisel Husseini, a resident of Arab east Jerusalem billed by Israeli authorities as the PLO's representative in the occupied West Bank. Amirav, now a member of the liberal Center Party, said the Israelis found the Palestinian academics surprisingly moderate. He said the academics told him the PLO was ready to recognize Israel and end the Middle East conflict in return for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. ``We were stunned by their attitude,'' he said. ``They said they recognized Israel and believed there should be two independent states.'' The delegation was the third known group of Israelis to attend a forum with PLO officials and the first to include moderate participants more representative of the Israeli consensus. The other groups openly defied the law and met directly with PLO officials, arguing the group was not terrorist.
