PLO leader responds to US court ruling that PA must pay terror victims: Terror victims shouldn't have ignored US State Dep. warning
On Feb. 23, 2015, the US Federal District Court in New York ruled that the Palestinian Authority is financially liable for $655 million in damages to victims of terror attacks. 10 American families who are all victims or related to victims of Palestinian terror, sued the PA for damages, saying that the PA was responsible for the terror attacks in which they were personally injured or their relatives were killed during the years of the PA terror campaign (Intifada, 2000-2005). PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi responds to the ruling:
"Even after the US State Department issued a warning not to visit Israel at that time (2000-2005), several acts occurred that caused damage to several Americans who had not heeded the US State Department's warnings. What were they doing in a region about which there is a warning, where there is violence, instability, and so on? Rachel Corrie, who was the victim of premeditated murder (Rachel Corrie was run over trying to stop a bulldozer from destroying terrorist infrastructure, see more information below, -Ed.) using Israeli Caterpillar bulldozers - the Israeli Supreme Court of Justice ruled that this was a state of war and that it could not rule against the person who had committed the murder or the atrocity - the person guilty of her premeditated murder. Certainly, those who came from another country to one in which there was violence and so on - despite the warning issued by their government - and then accuse an entire government, an entire Authority, for every person and for each individual [military] operation, as if the entire Palestinian political establishment were responsible. This is a dangerous precedent. Honestly, I, we all, all the senior [Palestinian] officials, are now monitoring [the issue] daily, in a professional and direct manner. We know we will win the appeal, [even] if we do not succeed in getting an acquittal now."
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Note: Rachel Corrie - was run over by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza in 2003 while trying to prevent the bulldozers from destroying terrorist infrastructure. The Corrie family sued Israel for "wrongful death" of their daughter but the Israeli court ruled against the Corrie family, stating that the driver could not see Rachel Corrie, that she had intentionally put herself in a war zone, and that her death was a regrettable accident.
"Even after the US State Department issued a warning not to visit Israel at that time (2000-2005), several acts occurred that caused damage to several Americans who had not heeded the US State Department's warnings. What were they doing in a region about which there is a warning, where there is violence, instability, and so on? Rachel Corrie, who was the victim of premeditated murder (Rachel Corrie was run over trying to stop a bulldozer from destroying terrorist infrastructure, see more information below, -Ed.) using Israeli Caterpillar bulldozers - the Israeli Supreme Court of Justice ruled that this was a state of war and that it could not rule against the person who had committed the murder or the atrocity - the person guilty of her premeditated murder. Certainly, those who came from another country to one in which there was violence and so on - despite the warning issued by their government - and then accuse an entire government, an entire Authority, for every person and for each individual [military] operation, as if the entire Palestinian political establishment were responsible. This is a dangerous precedent. Honestly, I, we all, all the senior [Palestinian] officials, are now monitoring [the issue] daily, in a professional and direct manner. We know we will win the appeal, [even] if we do not succeed in getting an acquittal now."
Click to view bulletin
Note: Rachel Corrie - was run over by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza in 2003 while trying to prevent the bulldozers from destroying terrorist infrastructure. The Corrie family sued Israel for "wrongful death" of their daughter but the Israeli court ruled against the Corrie family, stating that the driver could not see Rachel Corrie, that she had intentionally put herself in a war zone, and that her death was a regrettable accident.
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