Terror trialA first: PA, PLO on trial in New York for supporting terrorism

On Tuesday, a New York federal court opened a trial which will decide whether the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) should be held responsible for seven shootings and bombings that killed thirty-three people and wounded more than 450, some of them Americans, in Jerusalem between 2002 and 2004. The lawsuit was launched in 2004 by victims and families of victims, and was filed under the Antiterrorism Act of 1991. It seeks up to $1 billion from the PA and the PLO.

According to the Algemeiner, the civil complaint claims that the attackers were either on the payroll of the PA or the PLO. After the attacks, their families received martyr pay and other forms of support from both organizations, the plaintiffs claim. Attorney Kent Yalowitz, representing the plaintiffs, said members of the PA and the PLO who launched the attacks were operating on behalf of their respective organizations.

In response, defense attorney Mark Rochon, in his opening statement, insisted that the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers and gunmen “acting on their own angry, crazy reasons.”

Attorneys for the victims plan to show the jury evidence of PA and PLO involvement or praise of the attacks. Among the evidence is a 2002 PA report about West Bank operations sent to the head of the PA’s General Intelligence Service. The report, seized by Israel during incursions into the West Bank, reveals communications that praised a PA squad for “high quality successful attacks” and referred to the squad as “the most disciplined.”

Prior to the trial, lawyers for the PA and the PLO tried to convince the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a Manhattan court does not have jurisdiction over the case. The PLO maintains a twelve-person office in the United States, but the group is based in the West Bank, the lawyers noted. “Given the high stakes, extraordinary burden, and substantial foreign policy consequences associated with bringing a foreign government to trial for supporting terrorism, the trial … should not go forward in the absence of general personal jurisdiction over them,” the lawyers wrote in papers submitted to the appeals court. They also warned that the publicity of the trial, “some of it inevitable, some of it sought by plaintiffs, will undermine the confidence in the PA’s ability to govern and contribute to a worsening of tensions in the region at a delicate moment.”

Should the PA and PLO lose the case, they could seek an appeal, which could take years. The plaintiffs may have to wait a while to receive any judgment, said Bruce Zagaris, a partner at Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe in Washington, D.C. who specializes in international law. Plaintiffs in similar prior cases have found it difficult to collect their awards because the defendants have few or no U.S. assets and “most foreign jurisdictions will not enforce these types of U.S. judgments,” Zagaris told Reuters.

U.S. District Judge George Daniels will oversee the trial, Sokolow v. Palestine Liberation Organization et al., U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 04-00397.