PLO, PA to appeal against US court that sued Palestinians

A senior member of Fatah’s Central Committee, Nabil Shaath, said on Wednesday that the PLO and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are going to appeal against the US jury that ordered them to pay $218.5m for Israeli-Americans hurt or killed in Palestinian attacks in Israel between 2002 and 2004.

In an interview with the London based Arabic-language channel Al-Ghad Al-Araby, Shaath said that the PLO and the PA had decided to go to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to discuss this issue and to sue Israel in turn for its crimes against the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Shaath expressed his surprise over the American ruling because the US judiciary does not recognise the PLO or the PA. He also was surprised that the Americans did not go directly to the ICC, which officially has jurisdiction over such issues.

Shaath concluded his interview saying: “The occupation went to a court that does not know its jurisdiction or its mission.”

On Monday, jurors in Manhattan Federal Court awarded $218.5 million in damages to the ten American families who brought the case. This sum should be automatically tripled to $655.5 million under 1992 US anti-terrorism law, lawyers for the families said.

According to Reuters, the verdict was the second in less than a year in which a US jury found defendants liable under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which lets US citizens injured by acts of international terrorism pursue damages in federal court.

Last September, a federal jury in Brooklyn found the Arab Bank liable for providing material support to Hamas. A separate trial to determine damages is scheduled for this year.