A US Court of Appeals in Washington dropped last week a lawsuit filed in 2004 against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization, for damages suffered by American families in attacks allegedly carried out by Palestinians against Israeli targets.
“The district court lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendants” in Shabtai Scott Shatsky vs. the Palestine Liberation Organization, et al,” the Court of Appeals decided according to a statement issued by the Palestinian Finance Ministry.
The Ministry said the US court rejected the appeal made by far-right groups in the well-known Shatsky lawsuit, submitted against the PLO and the PA in 2004. The plaintiffs were demanding about $900 million in damages.
The suit was brought by the American victims of a 2002 suicide bombing in the West Bank against the PLO and the PA.
The statement expressed the Ministry’s satisfaction with the ruling saying it is the result of the efforts made by its accredited team of attorneys in Washington.
On February 16, 2002, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device inside a crowded pizzeria in the West Bank village of Karnei Shomron. The blast killed two US nationals, and wounded 30 others, including four US nationals.
The US victims and their personal representatives initiated the instant suit against the PA and the PLO alleging that the bombing was enabled by those entities.
The PA currently faces 110 similar cases in Israel. Earlier, a US court dropped an appeal against a ruling requesting the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Liberation Organization to pay more than $650 million to American citizens and their loved ones for attacks in Israel in the early 2000s.
Last week, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh rejected Israel’s decision to deduct NIS 450 million ($128 million) of the Palestinian Authority’s tax revenues in addition to the deduction of NIS 650 million the last year.
