Should the U.S. Provide Security Aid to the Palestinian Authority & Reassert U.S. Courts’ Jurisdiction Over Cases of Americans Hurt by Int’l Terrorism? (S. 2132)
Do you support or oppose this bill?
What is S. 2132?
(Updated October 24, 2019)
This bill — the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act — would seek to provide justice for U.S. victims of international terrorism while promoting security cooperation among U.S., Israeli, and Palestinian security forces. To this end, it would amend the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act (ATCA), which Congress passed without objection last year, to allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) to accept security assistance without triggering jurisdiction for terrorism-related legal claims.
To provide justice for U.S. victims international terrorism, this bill would strengthen the ATCA to restore U.S. federal court jurisdiction over the PA and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for claims by Americans injured or killed by acts of terrorism overseas sponsored by the PA/PLO. It would also affirm the fundamental principle that normal participation as part of the international community, or engaging in certain conduct in the U.S., demands first answering for prior support for terrorist acts.
Additionally, this bill introduces new avenues for holding the PA and PLO accountable for their actions. If the PLO continues to hold non-member observer state status in UN agencies and bodies or at the International Criminal Court (ICC), or if PLO or PA officials enter the U.S. on official business or maintain offices on U.S. territory, then previously dismissed damage claims would become due and future claims may be heard in U.S. courts. The current Palestinian mission to the U.N. in New York would be excepted to the extent official U.N. business is being carried out; but no other advocacy may be conducted in the U.S.
Recent federal court decisions have created loopholes in longstanding U.S. anti-terrorism law, allowing certain foreign actors to evade U.S. court jurisdiction when they support or carry out acts of terrorism against American citizens.
Argument in favor
This bill strikes the appropriate balance between ensuring justice for American victims of international terrorism and providing the Palestinian Authority (PA) with the security assistance it needs to help promote U.S. security interests in the Middle East.
Argument opposed
This bill would crush the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), forcing them to choose between security assistance and engaging with the international community and reverting U.S. policy to treating the PLO as a mere terrorist organization.
Impact
U.S. victims of international terrorism; U.S. courts’ jurisidiction over international terrorism compensation cases; Palestine; Israel; the PLA; and the PLO.
Cost of S. 2132
A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.
Additional Info
In-Depth: Sponsoring Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) introduced this bill to provide justice for U.S. victims of international terrorism and improve security cooperation between U.S., Israeli, and Palestinian security forces:
“American victims of international terrorism need access to justice and the Palestinian Authority needs our assistance to promote security. This important bill would give victims of terrorism their day in court and promote U.S. security interests in the Middle East by improving our nation’s engagement with Palestinian security forces, a relationship highly praised and valued by the Israeli Government. Given the urgency for justice and security in the Middle East, I urge my Senate colleagues to work to pass this bipartisan legislation as soon as possible.”
Original cosponsor Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) adds:
“In the last 30 years, Congress repeatedly and unanimously voted to open the courthouse doors to American victims of international terrorism. Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority chose to dodge accountability in U.S. courts, harming its own people and goodhearted aid organizations in the process. This legislation promotes access to justice for American victims of terrorism while restoring essential security and humanitarian support that the PA blocked in retaliation for bipartisan congressional action. It has the blessing of the State Department and American victims, and I urge all of my colleagues to again show their support.”
Marcus Montgomery, a Congressional Resident Fellow at Arab Center Washington DC, argues that this bill isn’t an improvement over the ATCA, and will be unpalatable to the PA:
“At first glance it may seem like a good decision to amend ATCA to allow the PA to accept U.S. aid that, aside from guaranteeing security cooperation, also helps alleviate some of the everyday problems Palestinians face under occupation. But on closer inspection, Lankford’s bill and the bipartisan amendment to it include just more coercive conditions that the PA would not accept. Except, they go even further… In short, this bill would allow the PA to accept some forms of U.S. support, but it adds even more stringent conditions, like requiring the PA to downgrade its status at the United Nations. Furthermore, an amendment to this bill adds Taylor Force Act-like conditions barring the PA from providing welfare assistance to the families of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces if Israel determines the victim was undertaking an act of terrorism.”
Zaha Hassan, a human rights lawyer and visiting fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argues that this bill would crush the PA and PLO and lead the U.S. to revert to treating the PLO as a terrorist organization:
“Th[is] bill goes well beyond an attempt to obtain compensation for victims’ families. If the bill is successful, the U.S. would revert to treating the PLO as a mere terrorist organization without national representative character.”
Hassan argues that this bill would force the PLO and PA to choose between maintaining their status at the U.N. and being held liable for previously dismissed terrorism claims, or downgrading their status at the U.N., forgoing pursuit of war crimes against Israelis by withdrawing from the Rome Statute, and resuming receiving U.S. security assistance. Hassan concludes, “In the former case, the PA will bankrupt itself and the U.S. will treat the PLO as nothing more than a terrorist organization. In the latter case, the PLO will have relinquished any pretense that it can effectively represent the rights and interests of the Palestinian people. Either case means the end of a Palestinian negotiating partner for any future peace talks.” This would have “far-reaching implications for Mideast peace” that Hassan argues aren’t worth the “short-term domestic political points” that this bill would score.
This legislation has two bipartisan cosponsors, including one Democrat and one Republican.
Of Note: The Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act (ATCA) subjects the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to U.S. federal courts’ jurisdiction as a condition of accepting U.S. aid from certain accounts, such as the economic support fund (ESF) or international narcotics control and law enforcement (INCLE) accounts. These are the accounts through which most U.S. funds are allocated to the PA.
Under the ATCA, if the PA accepts aid from the ESF or INCLE accounts, it would be assenting to U.S. federal courts’ jurisdiction, opening it up to suits by American victims of terrorism carried out by Palestinians. As this is unacceptable to the PA (in part because it would lead to its bankruptcy), the PA declined to accept U.S. funds once ATCA took effect.
Some U.S. senators value some aid to the PA because the authority facilitates security coordination with Israel’s security network. In their thinking, cutting off funding or forcing the PA to decline support directly jeopardizes Israel’s security.
Media:
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Sponsoring Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) Press Release
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Original Cosponsor Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) Press Release
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Arab Center Washington DC (Opposed)
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Al-Shabaka (Opposed)
Summary by Lorelei Yang
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