Lawfare in New York Courts Takes Odd Turn

The Palestinian Authority is signaling that it is willing to defend itself against lawsuits claiming that the PA is liable for terrorist attacks from Gaza and the West Bank.

For years, the Palestinian Authority has refused to contest such suits or acknowledge the jurisdiction of American courts, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in default judgments that the Palestinian Authority has refused to pay. Now, in a move that could lead to trials, the prime minister, Salam Fayyad, is calling on federal judges in New York and Rhode Island to throw out the default judgments and give the authority another chance to respond to civil suits filed years ago.

"I have instructed new counsel that the Defendants will participate fully in this and other litigation in a cooperative manner," Mr. Fayyad pledged in an affidavit filed in court in Rhode Island.

The shift could prompt new suits against the Palestinian Authority, if other litigants, such as businessman, believe that the authority might actually pay judgments awarded by American courts.

What exactly is motivating the change is unclear, although it may have come at the urging of American officials. Last year, Secretary of State Rice wrote to the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, urging him to "respond to U.S. legal proceedings in a good faith and a timely manner," according to court documents.

Here's one thing to understand about the Palestinian Authority. It is broke, unless foreign donors provide aid for it to operate on a day-to-day basis. It doesn't generate enough revenues on its own because the Palestinians don't create any goods or services other than terrorists, bombers, and kassams and mortars for use against Israel. Those are its chief exports.

So, any money that is eventually won in judgments is coming from none other than the US government or the EU, not the Palestinians themselves. For those who have been injured by the terrorists, where the money comes from isn't all that important, but it does go to show just how unserious the US, EU, and Israelis are in dealing with the Palestinian terrorists. They continue to play the game that the PA is a different entity than Fatah, an avowed terrorist group dedicated to Israel's destruction, or Hamas, which has fought Fatah and controls Gaza.

These foreign donors continue to provide hundreds of millions of dollars to the PA, despite it being completely infiltrated by terrorists and which provides safe harbor and condones such terrorist attacks.

Without the infusion of foreign aid, the Palestinian Authority would cease to exist, rendering a situation not all that different than what we see in Gaza - terrorists running the show and engaging in an ongoing war with Israel.