|
|
|
|
Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
|
August 11, 2015
|
|
|
Obama
Administration Urges Judge to Limit PA Bond in Terror Case
by IPT News • Aug 11, 2015 at
12:31 pm
|
|
|
|
|
Share:  
|
  Be the
first of your friends to like this.
A deputy secretary of State has asked a federal judge to consider a host
of potential calamities which might result from enforcing a civil terrorism
against the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the deaths and injuries of
American citizens.
The Authority is appealing a February jury verdict, awarding $218.5 million in damages to 10 families who
lost relatives or suffered injuries themselves in terrorist attacks
involving PA officials and support between 2001 and 2004. Under the
Antiterrorism Act, those damages triple to $655 million.
Normally, defendants would have to take out a bond worth more than those
damages while they appealed the judgment. But the PA asked the court to
waive that requirement, pleading dire financial circumstances. In response,
the plaintiffs recommended "an equitable middle road"
requiring $30 million in monthly installments into a kind of escrow account
through the court.
In a declaration filed late Monday, Deputy Secretary of
State Antony Blinken did not directly endorse that figure, or the PA's
position that no bond should be required. Rather, Blinken asserts that U.S. District Judge George B.
Daniels should "carefully consider the impact of its decision
on the continued viability of the PA in light of the evidence about its
financial situation ... the collapse of the PA would undermine
several decades of U.S. foreign policy and add a new destabilizing factor
to the region, compromising national security.'
The bond requirement would undermine U.S. investments aimed at
facilitating a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
Blinken wrote, and the breakdown in the Palestinian economy and security
apparatus would open the door to more radical elements and terrorist
recruitment.
Attorneys for the families in Sokolow v. PLO argue that the PA is
"crying wolf" about its finances and that their suggested
installment plan avoids any collapse. During the trial, jurors saw internal
PA and Palestine Liberation Organization records describing a payment plan to support families of those who died
carrying out attacks on Israeli civilians and to support those imprisoned
by Israel for terrorist activity.
Other records included handwritten notes from longtime PLO and PA
leader Yasser Arafat approving those payments.
 Those
payments continue today, the Shurat HaDin, or Israel Law Center, noted
Tuesday.
In Monday's government filing, Blinken said the administration supports
the Antiterrorism Act and the efforts of victims to seek justice via civil
litigation. Such lawsuits "can also advance U.S. national security
interests. A civil judgments against "those who commit or sponsor acts
of terrorism is an important means of deterring and defeating terrorist
activity" and cuts funds that could support other terrorism.
He offered no specific suggestion about how to balance that quest for
justice against the concerns over the PA's potential collapse if the
damages are upheld.
The question of whether to intervene created "tremendous
friction" between the Justice and State departments, the New York
Times reported Tuesday. DOJ did not want to get involved in
creating an obstacle for terror victims trying to collect judgments, the
report said, citing "federal officials involved in the
discussions." But State insisted, arguing "the United States has
seen a viable Palestinian Authority as essential to maintaining stability
in the region."
|
The IPT accepts no funding from outside
the United States, or from any governmental agency or political or
religious institutions. Your support of The Investigative Project on
Terrorism is critical in winning a battle we cannot afford to lose. All
donations are tax-deductible. Click here to donate online. The
Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation is a recognized 501(c)3
organization.
202-363-8602
- main
202-966-5191
- fax
|
|
Print
Send
Comment
RSS
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment