Palestinian Authority Granted New Trial in Terrorism Damages Suit

The Washington Post ^ | March 28, 2008 | Glenn Kessler

[forkinsocket]

The Palestinian Authority won a major legal victory when a federal judge, in a ruling made public yesterday, agreed to set aside a judgment of nearly $200 million awarded to American victims of Palestinian terrorist attacks in Israel and allow a new trial.

Such rulings are rare, and the judge, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, said that he would vacate the previous legal victory only if the Palestinian Authority put up a $192.7 million bond to ensure that it does not default again if it loses in court. In a ruling Wednesday, he also ordered the Palestinians to reimburse the plaintiffs for previous legal expenses.

But Marrero's decision gives the Palestinian government hope that it can escape from lawsuits that its officials said threatened to bankrupt it. Top Palestinian officials, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, had urged Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to intervene in the case.

Marrero had earlier sought the Bush administration's opinion on the case, confronting it with a choice between supporting compensation for victims of terrorism and bolstering the Palestinian government as the United States presses for a breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The administration ultimately declined to offer an opinion, but noted in a statement to the court that it was concerned that lawsuits by victims of terrorism could harm the "financial and political viability" of the Palestinian Authority -- a statement that Marrero noted in making his decision.

Leslye Knox, a 46-year-old mother of six children and widow of Aharon Ellis, had sued under a law passed by Congress in 1990 after the murder of Leon Klinghoffer by terrorists who seized the Achille Lauro cruise ship. Ellis, a U.S. citizen, was shot and killed along with five other people by a Palestinian militant in 2002 in Hadera, Israel.

[forkinsocket]

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[baa39]

Does it seem that this article indirectly implies that the judge took this action due to the influence of the Secretary of State?

[CondorFlight]

Just take the latest $150 million we’re sending to the PAs and impound it here. I’d rather have it sit in a US bank than go to Gaza. (Condi won’t like it, though.)

Any US secretary of State who doesn’t come down 100% on the side of protecting US citizens from attack, doesn’t deserve the office. American lives (and Israeli lives) are not bargaining chips, and they are not ‘expendable’.