U.S. Jury Finds Palestinian Groups Liable for Terrorism (February 23, 2015) [1]
On February 23, 2015, a jury in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan, New York, found [3] in Sokolow v. Palestine Liberation Organization the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority liable [4] for supporting six terrorist attacks that wounded or killed several Americans, among other victims, in Israel in the early 2000s. The jury awarded victims US$215 million in damages, and the amount is expected to be tripled as the Anti-Terrorism Act [5], under which the suit commenced, allows a successful plaintiff to recover “threefold the damages he or she sustains and the cost of the suit, including attorney’s fees.” One report [6] describes the case, which began in 2004, as “one of the most notable attempts by American victims of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to use U.S. courts to seek damages” and a “setback” for Palestinians seeking “to rally international support for their independence and to push for war crime charges against Israel.” The Anti-Terrorism Act allows American “victims of U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations to seek compensation for pain and suffering, loss of earnings and other hardship.”