A time like this, when the Middle East peace process is restarting once again, is the precise moment when the Palestinian Authority cannot afford to have its diplomatic efforts in the United States disrupted. But, unfortunately, this is exactly what seems to be happening, and for the most unlikeliest of reasons — because a court in Rhode Island has frozen the PA’s assets in the United States, reportedly some $1.3 billion. As a result, Palestinian officials in Washington say they are unable to pay salaries and meet bills. Palestinian diplomatic representation in the United States has now been effectively paralyzed at a time of crucial importance.
The court order came in a case filed by the family of an American Jew murdered along with his wife in Israel in 1966. The gunmen, three Hamas fighters, were caught and jailed. But the case did not end there. The family of the victim demanded compensation from the Palestinian Authority. When this was refused, the family, using US legislation allowing action to be taken against those responsible for the deaths of Americans abroad, filed a case in Rhode Island in 2000. The defendants were Hamas, the PLO and the Palestinian Authority — the last since the suit alleged it shared responsibility because it had sheltered Hamas.
The plaintiffs claimed that the Palestinian Authority had begun to move funds out of the US and so they went to the court, demanding it freeze all PA assets in the US. The assets have now been frozen. The freeze is expected to last until the case is over — which could be months or even years.
Clearly the US State Department should take some action to sort this out. Sovereign governments certainly ought to be liable for civil suits but such legal actions should not be so pervasive that the countries’ diplomats are unable to discharge their duties. What is interesting to consider is what the response of the court in Rhode Island or the Bush administration itself would have been if the shoe had been on the other foot. Suppose the suit had been filed by the family of a US Palestinian gunned down by Israeli soldiers or blown to bits in an attack by an US-made helicopter gunship. Would the court have frozen the Israeli government’s assets in the US? Would the Bush administration have had nothing to say in such a situation?
As always with Washington, it can be spied upon, spat upon and in every way led down the path to disaster in the Middle East by the Israelis — but the Israelis, thanks to the power of the US Zionist lobby, remain America’s allies and staunch friends. Palestinians, on the other hand have only their history of misery and loss to attract Washington’s attention.
The timing of this particular court case against the Palestinian Authority looks suspiciously as if it had been designed to cause maximum embarrassment and disruption to the Palestinian diplomatic effort in America at the precise moment when the peace process is restarting. If nothing is done to free the funds, the partiality of the US administration will once again be made clear.
