WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday on whether American victims of attacks in Israel and the West Bank can sue the Palestinian authorities for damages in US courts.
The long-running case involves the jurisdiction of US federal courts to hear lawsuits involving the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Americans killed or injured in attacks in Israel or the West Bank or their relatives have filed a number of suits seeking damages.
In one 2015 case, a jury awarded $654 million to the US victims of attacks which took place in the early 2000s.
Appeals courts dismissed the suits on jurisdiction grounds.
Congress passed a law in 2019 — the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act — that would make the PLO and PA subject to US jurisdiction if they were found to have made payments to the relatives of persons who killed or injured Americans.
Two lower courts ruled that the 2019 law was a violation of the due process rights of the Palestinian authorities but a majority of the justices on the conservative-majority Supreme Court appeared inclined on Tuesday to uphold it.
“Congress and the president are the ones who make fairness judgments when we’re talking about the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” said Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler, representing the Trump administration, agreed, saying the courts should not substitute themselves for Congress or the president.
“Congress and the president made a judgment that is entitled to virtually absolute deference — that it is appropriate to subject the PA and the PLO to jurisdiction,” Kneedler said.
“In this case, respondents had a chance to avoid that by just stopping those activities, but they didn’t,” he said.
Mitchell Berger, representing the PA and PLO, said assigning jurisdiction is “over and above what Congress can prescribe.”
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling before the end of its term in June.
Supreme Court may open door to US victim suits against Palestinian authorities
https://arab.news/vahmp
Supreme Court may open door to US victim suits against Palestinian authorities
- The long-running case involves the jurisdiction of US federal courts to hear lawsuits involving the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization
Japan’s Takaichi hosts first summit with Central Asia leaders
- The Central Asian leaders also held separate summits with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen this year
TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hosted an inaugural summit on Friday with five Central Asia leaders, as Tokyo competes for influence in the resource-rich region.
Takaichi is meeting with counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan during a two-day conference in Tokyo, a month after US President Donald Trump hosted all five in Washington.
The Central Asian leaders also held separate summits with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen this year.
Like the United States and the European Union, Japan is drawn by the region’s enormous — but still mostly unexploited — natural resources in a push to diversify rare earths supplies and reduce dependence on Beijing.
With Tokyo trailing its rivals, the summit is important for Japan to increase its presence, said Tomohiko Uyama, a professor at Hokkaido University specializing in Central Asian politics.
“Natural resources have become a strong focus particularly in the past year because of China’s moves involving rare earths,” Uyama told AFP, referencing tight export controls introduced this year by Beijing.
During the summit, Takaichi and the five leaders are expected to establish an “AI partnership” framework, aiming to use technology to explore mineral deposits in undeveloped mines, the Nikkei Asia business daily said.
