Jul. 13, 2004 9:27 | Updated Jul. 13, 2004 10:09US Court orders...

Jul. 13, 2004 9:27 | Updated Jul. 13, 2004 10:09
US Court orders PA, PLO to pay for murder of US citizen
By MELISSA RADLER


NEW YORK

In what may be a landmark blow to global terror financing, a federal judge in the US ordered the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to pay $116m. to the family of a US citizen who was murdered in Israel eight years ago.

In a July 12 decision, District Court Judge Ronald Lagueux of Rhode Island upheld the findings of Magistrate David Martin, issued March 31, that the PA and PLO provided a safe haven and operational base for Hamas to carry out the shooting death of Yaron Ungar, an American living in the West Bank, and his Israeli wife Efrat Ungar. The Ungars were murdered near Beit Shemesh on June 9, 1996, while driving home from a wedding. They were survived by two young sons, Dvir and Yishai.

This case has proven that individuals can join the fight against terrorism and that litigation can be successful against terrorist entities, the Ungars' attorney, David Strachman, said Monday.

The case was filed in 2000 under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1991, which allows American victims of terrorist attacks overseas to seek damages in US courts, and Strachman praised the court "for recognizing, exactly, the purpose of the Anti-Terrorism Act, and that is to create an economic penalty for terrorism."

The PA's attorney, former attorney-general Ramsey Clark, was out of the country and did not respond to a fax seeking comment, and the PLO mission to the United Nations did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The ruling comes one year after Lagueux ordered Hamas to pay $116m. for its part in the Ungars' death; while the ruling against Hamas was made after the organization, which is outlawed in the US, repeatedly failed to respond to the lawsuit, Mondays ruling was handed down after the PA and PLO mounted a defense of sovereign immunity, making the suit the only contested terrorism case to go to judgment.

Rejecting the PA's defense, Lagueux wrote, in an April decision, that the PA and PLO do not constitute a state as defined by the law of the United States and applicable to international law because both entities lack a defined territory with a permanent population controlled by a government that has the capacity to enter into foreign relations. He added that 'Palestine' is an amorphous entity whose status remains a question, and that most states recognizing 'Palestine' as a nation view it as a legitimate aspiration rather than an existing reality. (makes a further mockery of the World Court ruling in The Hague...........Snooker)

In Monday's decision, Lagueux upheld Martin's order to sanction the PA for its deliberate actions to delay the completion of this litigation, and he demanded that it cover nearly $12,000 of the Ungar's legal fees. The PLO was ordered to pay an additional $6,345 in legal fees.

While judgments in terrorism cases are generally unenforceable, as terrorist organizations are prohibited from operating in the US and those with court victories against state sponsors of terror have been denied access to the frozen assets, Strachman said that the Ungars absolutely intend to collect.

"Time and time again, numerous entities have discussed the financial status of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO," Strachman said. "They're not lacking for money."