Two Jerusalem Arabs were indicted Tuesday for membership in the supreme command of the Palestinian uprising.
The two were indicted at the military court in Lod, as two of their friends remained in detention, awaiting trial on the same charge.
The four were arrested on March 5. They are suspected of having served since Dec. 18, 1988, as the top command of the intifada, as the Palestinians call their uprising.
The defendants brought to trial Tuesday were Adnan Shalalada, charged as the representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the supreme command, and Saman Khuri, charged as representing the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Both groups are factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Membership in the PLO is illegal in Israel and the administered territories.
According to the charge sheet, the two wrote the text of several leaflets distributed by the uprising leadership, distributed $1.5 million for various activities, supervised the work of 10 subcommittees of the intifada command and initiated violent riots, including rock-throwing and firebomb incidents.
Authorities, meanwhile, are continuing with their effort to engage local Palestinian leaders in a political dialogue, in the hope of creating an alternative leadership to the PLO.
Gen. Yitzhak Mordechai, commander of the southern front, which includes the Gaza Strip, and senior officers in the Gaza civil administration, met Tuesday with a number of Palestinians leaders in the Gaza Strip.
Among them were Fayez Abu-Rahme, chairman of the local bar association, and Mansur a Shawa, chairman of the local charitable association and son of the late Rashad a Shawa, the former mayor of Gaza.
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