US jury rules PA responsible for terror attacks

A US jury decides that Palestinian authorities – the PLO and the Paletinian Authority – should be held responsible for terrorist attacks in Israel that killed or wounded Americans.

Jurors also awards the victims $218.5 million in damages. The jury reaches the decision at a civil trial in a federal court in Manhattan. The US Anti-Terrorism Act could allow for that to be tripled.

The plaintiffs sued the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority in 2004 under the US Anti-Terrorism Act. The law allows victims of US-designated foreign terrorist organizations to seek compensation.

The plaintiffs said internal documents showed that the Palestinian authorities sanctioned six attacks from 2002 to 2004 that harmed 10 American families. Defense attorneys argued that the attackers acted on their own.

Read the full story here.

— AP