Court rejects Palestinian defendants' plea to shake off responsibility for murder of Yaron and Efrat Ungar.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFungars 224.88(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Palestine Liberation Organization and its governmental entity cannot overturn a court judgment forcing them to pay more than $116 million for a Hamas terror attack that killed a US citizen and his wife, a federal judge ruled.
The case is among a handful in America filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1991, which seeks to hold terrorist organizations responsible for the killings of American citizens.
In a ruling Wednesday, US District Court Judge Ronald Lagueux rejected a request from the Palestinian defendants asking they not be held responsible for the 1996 shooting deaths of Yaron Ungar and his Israeli wife, Efrat, near the city of Beit Shemesh.
The judge, who first ordered the Palestinian defendants to pay in 2004, blamed their loss on a legal strategy set by the late Yasser Arafat, who refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the US court.
"These choices were the intentional, deliberate and binding decisions made by the PA's dictatorial leader," the judge wrote. "Defendants must now accept the consequences of these decisions."
Legal proceedings are under way in the United States, Israel and other countries to take money from the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, said David Strachman, an attorney for the estate of the Ungars, who had two children. Only a modest sum has been collected so far, he said, declining to be more specific.
"Judge Lagueux confirmed once again their culpability and their obligation to pay to the Ungar orphans and their family," he said.
It was unclear Thursday if the PLO and Palestinian Authority would appeal, said Deming Sherman, an attorney representing them. He declined to comment further on the case.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for a fatal attack on June 9, 1996, near Beit Shemesh.
Ungar and his wife were driving home when another vehicle driven by three Hamas gunmen pulled alongside them and opened fire. The couple was killed, but their 9-month-old son survived; another son wasn't in the car.
Relying on the 1991 anti-terrorism law, representatives for the couple's estate filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Providence. The lawsuit said the Palestinian Authority and the PLO offered a safe haven to members of Hamas.
The judge ordered a default judgment against the PLO in 2004 after it refused to make witnesses - including Arafat - available for depositions and wouldn't share information with lawyers for the Ungars, which is required under court rules.
Lawyers for the PLO promptly tried to overturn the judgment, saying it should have been allowed more time to mount a defense that it was a sovereign government that couldn't be sued. The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston rejected that argument.
In December 2007, the PLO and Palestinian Authority asked again to overturn the judgment, this time saying they weren't responsible for the attack and didn't understand US court rules.
The defendants accused Hamas of staging the attack to disrupt peace negotiations the Palestinian Authority was carrying out with the Israeli and US governments.
The judge previously ordered that Hamas must pay more than $116 million for its role in the attack. Hamas has never hired a lawyer or contested the case.
