White House intervenes in lawsuit over Palestinian terror attacks

The Obama administration has intervened in a lawsuit over Palestinian terror attacks that have killed or wounded Americans, advising a judge that requiring a hefty bond payment in the case could financially destabilize the Palestinian government.

The filing comes in a case in New York City, where a jury this year awarded $218.5 million to Americans affected by the attacks in a lawsuit brought against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. That amount is automatically tripled under the Anti-Terrorism Act, lawyers have said, raising the sum to $655.5 million dollars.

A report in the New York Times Tuesday said the White House cited the potential for economic and political harm to the Palestinian Authority as well as the peace process with Israel and asked to allow the PA to appeal the verdict without paying at all.

By intervening, the government said it was trying to strike a balance between its support for the rights of terrorism victims to be compensated in court and concerns that a large bond imposed while the verdict is on appeal would weaken the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority and undermine “several decades of US foreign policy.”

“Senior US officials have made clear to other governments that if the PA were to collapse, we would be faced with a crisis that would not only impact the security of Israelis and Palestinians, but would potentially have ripple effects elsewhere in the region,” Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a five-page sworn declaration filed Monday in US District Court in Manhattan.

“A PA insolvency and collapse would harm current and future US-led efforts to achieve a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he was quoted by the NY Times as saying.

The plaintiffs included 10 families, comprising about three dozen members, of which eight suffered physical injuries in six terror attacks between the years 2002 and 2004.

They have requested that the Palestinian government deposit $30 million per month while the case is on appeal, an amount that they say is fair and reasonable. Lawyers for the victims have repeatedly said that the Palestinian Authority has sufficient money to make the payments.

The Justice Department filed a formal “statement of interest” in the case at the behest of the State Department, federal officials have said.

“The United States strongly supports the rights of victims of terrorism to vindicate their interests in federal court and to receive just compensation for their injuries,” the Justice Department was quoted by the New York Times as saying in the document.

“We are gratified that the Department of Justice supports the rights of survivors of international terrorism to enforce their rights and collect the judgment but disappointed that the State Department failed to take any stand against the PLO and PA’s policy of putting convicted terrorists on their payroll as soon as they are jailed,” Kent Yalowitz, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “If the PA has enough money to pay convicted terrorists, it has enough to pay the judgment in this case.”

Lawyers for the Palestinian Authority have argued that the group is effectively insolvent and have asked the judge, George B. Daniels, to waive the bond requirement.

According to the paper, the case has been a source of friction between the State Department and the Justice Department.

The State Department argues that the PA will not be able to afford paying the bond without compromising services or salaries to state employees. It additionally adds that the PA must remain afloat to maintain stability in the region.

Justice Department officials, however, maintain that it is not the government’s job to intervene in any way that makes it harder for terror victims to receive compensation after a fair trial.