Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara said Saturday that a US federal court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by pro-Israel groups and individuals against the Palestinian Authority (PA), after many years of legislation.
He said a federal court in Manhattan, New York, has issued a ruling in a case against the PA and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), demanding millions of dollars in compensations in light of laws amended specifically to subject the PA and the PLO to the jurisdiction of the American courts.
“US District Judge Jesse Forman in Manhattan ruled to dismiss the lawsuit, and considered the amended laws unconstitutional,” Bishara said.
He expressed satisfaction with this ruling, saying that the team of lawyers following up on these cases has succeeded in proving the unconstitutionality of the amended laws.
In February 2015, after a six-week trial, a federal jury in Manhattan found the PA and PLO liable for six shootings and bombings between 2002 and 2004 in the Jerusalem area. The jury awarded $218.5 million, a sum automatically tripled to $655.5 million under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act.
The attacks killed 33 people, including several Americans, and wounded more than 450. They have been attributed to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas.
The PA and PLO later appealed the ruling and they had to pay $218 million instead of $655 million.
Bishara said the team of lawyers that has been working with the PA since 2014, through the Palestinian Finance Ministry, has succeeded in dismissing all the cases brought against it under the argument of no jurisdiction for the US courts.
