Palestinian authorities filed an application with the Supreme Court on Thursday in a last-ditch attempt to block a more than $650 million judgment against the groups, which they say would result in the loss of critical services, cause untold human suffering and destabilize the war-torn region even further.
On March 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit reinstated a $655.5 million judgment against the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority in an Anti-Terrorism Act case brought by U.S. victims and survivors of terrorist attacks in Israel.
The Palestine Liberation Organization is the internationally recognized representative body for the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian Authority was created by the PLO in the 1990s to manage civil and security affairs in parts of the West Bank. The United States does not officially recognize either as a terror organization today. However, in 1987 Congress passed the Anti-Terrorism Act, labeling the PLO as a “terrorist organization and a threat to the interests of the US.”
The PLO does have a history of armed conflict against Israel, and while the Palestinian Authority was created to be a governing body committed to a diplomatic framework, elements within it have engaged in localized violence.
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The Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, led by Hamas, triggered a war in Gaza that has severely destabilized the West Bank, resulting in a surge of military raids, Israeli settler violence, economic distress and heightened political friction for the Palestinian Authority.
Now, the PLO and the Palestinian Authority are arguing the multimillion-dollar judgment against them will only make the situation in the area worse, saying that civic life is hanging “by a thread” in the West Bank.
“Immediate enforcement of the $655.5 million judgment may cut that thread, depriving millions of people of government services they depend on, and which provide security and stability for Israel, Palestine, and the region alike,.” the briefing reads. “The security, sanitation, and school services provided by Petitioners in the West Bank are hanging by a thread.”
The judgment against both groups was initially rendered after a jury verdict in 2015, but it was subsequently vacated in 2016 on the ground that U.S. courts lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendants. In response, Congress enacted new legislation, dubbed the “Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act,” designed to enable jurisdiction in similar cases.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, which confirmed that the congressional act is compatible with the Fifth Amendment, the case returned to the Second Circuit, which agreed to recall its earlier mandate, effectively undoing its 2016 ruling.
The application submitted by the PLO and the Palestinian Authority to halt the lower court’s order is up to the discretion of the Supreme Court itself, which has a history of accepting fewer than 1% of appeals in similar cases, according to Justice Department data.
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