The Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday ordered the Palestinian Authority to pay 130 million shekels ($37.5 million) in compensation to 32 Israeli families that lost members to terror attacks during the Second Intifada (2000 to 2005).
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According to reports in the Israeli media, Tuesday's ruling comes after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in April that the Ramallah's practice of paying security prisoners and their families constituted "approval" of terrorist attacks against Israelis, meaning that the PA can be legally sued for compensation.
Attorneys from the Shurat HaDin NGO who represented the families thanked the court for the ruling, which they said provided justice for the families of the victims, but added that they intend to appeal the ruling to seek greater compensation, the report stated.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner is the founder of Shurat Hadin Israeli Law Center, tweeted Wednesday: "Another huge victory of ours over terror."
The ruling, she said, "forms a precedent, and it is the highest that a court has ruled on in a lawsuit ruling against the Palestinian Authority."
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The Palestinian Authority routinely spends hundreds of millions of dollars on payments to terrorists imprisoned in Israel and to the families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks against Israel. The PA's "pay-for-slay" policy is a widely condemned practice that takes a growing cut of Ramallah's budget – funded by donor countries in the West and the Arab world – every year.
"Pay-for-slay" has earned the PA scathing international criticism, but Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to keep up terrorists' payments, even it if bankrupts the PA.
JNS.org contributed to this report.
