Peace activist Abie Nathan has asked the Tel Aviv District Court to overturn a magistrate’s order last week forbidding him from leaving the country.
The 64-year-old Nathan is awaiting sentencing for meeting with Yasir Arafat and other Palestine Liberation Organization members in Tunis in June.
The Ramla Magistrates Court convicted him Sept. 12 of violating the law that forbids such contacts.
Nathan, who recently served four months of a seven-month prison sentence for a 1989 meeting with Arafat, said he is committed to several public appearances abroad.
He said there is no risk he would not return to Israel for sentencing because he has always been ready to stand trial and take the consequences of his pro-peace activities.
The court is expected to announce its decision shortly.
Nathan was scheduled to leave for Montreal next week to participate in an international conference on the war against drugs, of which he is chairman.
From there he would go to New York to accept an award for his peace activities. He has also been invited to address the Parliament of India, the country where he was raised, on the occasion of the 122nd birthday anniversary of the late Mohandas Gandhi, the father of Indian independence.
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