Jurisdictional
Issue Quashes Huge Terror Judgment Against Palestinian Authority
by IPT News • Aug 31, 2016 at
2:03 pm
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A federal appeals court tossed out a $655 million civil terrorism judgment
against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) Wednesday, ruling that U.S. courts lacked jurisdiction
to hear the case.
The lawsuit, Sokolow v. PLO, was brought by American victims
and survivors of six terrorist attacks in Israel between 2001 and 2004
during the Al Aqsa Intifada. Evidence showed that the PA and PLO, then
ruled by Yasser Arafat, supported cells that orchestrated the machine gun
and bombing attacks and continued to pay the terrorists responsible as they
served time in Israeli prisons.
The U.S. Antiterrorism Act allows American victims of foreign terrorist
attacks to sue for damages. But, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled, that law does not apply to the PA, which is not a sovereign
state. There is no evidence that the terrorist attacks specifically
targeted Americans, the court ruled. And, the PA's U.S.-based operations
are insufficient to consider "at home" in America and create
proper jurisdiction.
The PA has diplomatic missions in New York and Washington, and has
lobbyists working on its behalf, the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge
John G. Koeltl, sitting by designation, said. That's not enough, in part
because there is no evidence showing the attacks "resulted from their actions
that did occur in the United States."
Similar successful lawsuits targeted Iran, Syria and other states for
providing material support and guidance to the responsible terrorists.
Those cases, however, involved countries designated by the U.S. as state
sponsors of terrorism. An amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
specifically
allows litigation against those states by American victims of terrorist
attacks.
In Sokolow, the 2nd Circuit ruled, the Palestinian
Authority is not even a state, and lacks a sufficient operating base in the
United States to meet the legal threshold for jurisdiction.
"The overwhelming evidence shows that the defendants are 'at home'
in Palestine, where they govern. Palestine is the central seat of
government for the PA and PLO. The PA's authority is limited to the West
Bank and Gaza, and it has no independently operated offices anywhere else.
All PA governmental ministries, the Palestinian president, the Parliament,
and the Palestinian security services reside in Palestine," the ruling
said.
The ruling relied heavily on a recent Supreme Court decision unrelated
to terrorism, but focused on U.S. courts' jurisdiction over foreign
entities. It did not address the evidence showing the PLO and PA's
knowledge and involvement in the deadly terror attacks.
Those attacks were "unquestionably horrific," the ruling concluded. "But the federal courts cannot exercise
jurisdiction in a civil case beyond the limits prescribed by the due
process clause of the Constitution, no matter how horrendous the underlying
attacks or morally compelling the plaintiffs' claims."
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