US judge: hamas to pay 116 Million dollars to kids of a couple murdered in Israel

[Sirotnikov]

U-S judge says Hamas must pay in death of American and wife

Providence, Rhode Island-AP -- A federal judge says the Palestinian militant group Hamas must pay more than 116 (m) million dollars for killing two Jewish settlers in Israel.

The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed in Rhode Island over the death of Yaron Ungar, an American citizen, and his Israeli wife, Efrat. They were killed as they drove home from a wedding in 1996. Four Hamas members have been convicted in an Israeli court.

Hamas never responded to the lawsuit, so Magistrate David Martin issued a default judgment today. It's not clear if Hamas might honor the ruling, or if it has the money to pay.

The case was filed under the Antiterrorism Act of 1991. It allows American victims of terrorism overseas to seek damages in U-S courts.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Intelligence reports:

Abu Mazen decreased encitement in palestinian state controlled media. His government is reported to be threatening people who might break the cease fire, but hasn't begun arresting people yet.

Hamas and Jihad are using the security from Israeli incursions and assassinations, to build up on it's stock of rockets, explosives, and train and recruit more people. "Unless something is done, by the end of the cease fire, they'll be just as strong as they were prior to the Israeli attack in May 2002." Intelligence bodies have been quoted.


PA claims: "we arrested a female suicide bomber in Gaza, on her way to Israeli controlled check-points."

[Sirotnikov]

Under pressure from France, E.U. decides against Hamas ban
By Philip Carmel

PARIS, July 6 (JTA) — Under heavy pressure from France, the European Union has said it will not freeze all assets belonging to the Palestinian organization Hamas, stating that a clear distinction should be made between the political and social wings of the Islamist movement.
The European Commission, the E.U.´s legislative body, announced late last month that it would not be acting against the political wing of Hamas, although it would retain an E.U. ban enforced last year on Hamas´ military branch, which it regards as a terrorist organization.

The commission view was confirmed on July 3 at a meeting of European ministers in Brussels, where a unanimous decision was made to delay a verdict on the political wing of Hamas.

Moreover, no date has been set to review the position.

[sic]

The French position also appeared somewhat vindicated by the announcement early last week of a cease-fire by Hamas and another Palestinian Islamist group, Islamic Jihad, as well as by the armed wing of Yasser Arafat´s Fatah organization.

Spokespeople with the French Foreign Ministry rejected demands from the U.S. administration to place both the armed and "welfare functions" of Hamas in the same sack, a position they said was "not shared by France," which regarded Hamas as "representing a wide body of opinion in the Palestinian territories."

"The E.U. has listed the armed wing, but social organizations of Hamas have also got to be listed," the U.S. national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said at a conference last month in London.

"The notion that on the one hand, Hamas is peaceful, and on the other hand, is trying to blow up the peace process is just illogical and, we´re saying, will not work," Rice said.

Such a view, however, was rejected by a spokesman from the French Foreign Ministry.

"There has been a very clear distinction between the two wings, and the minister himself has called for that distinction to be made between the armed wings and the social organizations in the Palestinian territories," the spokesman said at a Foreign Ministry news conference.

According to Francois Zimeray, a French member of the European Parliament, the position adopted by the European Commission is "totally artificial."

"Only a diplomat cut off from the human reality of the situation in the Middle East could make such distinctions," Zimeray told the JTA. "There is only one branch of Hamas."

Zimeray, who has led a campaign in the European Parliament to demand an investigation into the misuse of E.U. funds by the Palestinian Authority, said French policy was "like running with the hare and the hounds and the highest form of hypocrisy."

Until the decision, France was the only nation among the 15 members of the European Union to publicly say it opposed a ban on the non-military branch of Hamas, a policy it said would force the organization underground and prevent any possibility that it would agree to a cease-fire.

However, most of the E.U. members, led by Britain, continued to back Washington´s line that no distinction be made between the different organizations operating under the Hamas umbrella.

[sic]

Ironically, the current French position regarding Hamas comes at a time when France has been seeking to present a more balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Recently, a number of government ministers were present at an event in Paris titled "12 Hours for France-Israel Friendship."

The event brought together politicians from across the political spectrum who affirmed their support for the State of Israel and expressed a wish that French foreign policy would return to its more favorable stance toward the Jewish state which had been lost in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War.

Moreover, French Jewish leaders were keen to assert the historic bonds between Israel and France at a time when relations had deteriorated, with France adopting a strong anti-war position to the U.S.-led military operation in Iraq.

Despite a general tone of mutual back-slapping at the event, Meyer Habib, the head of the event´s organizing committee and a member of the executive committee of the CRIF umbrella organization of French Jews, drew widespread applause when he criticized current French policy toward Israel.

Habib said he was unable to understand a policy which did not recognize Hamas and the Lebanese Shi´a group "Hezbollah as terrorist organizations, and which did not recognize Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of Israel."

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin had also drawn the ire of the Jewish community when he met with Arafat during his recent visit to the Middle East.

In addition, the foreign minister attempted to inject his own ideas into the "road map" peace plan sponsored by the Quartet of the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia.

In calling for an international peacekeeping force to be sent to the Middle East, de Villepin was forced to climb down in the face of a lack of support from France´s European partners, later describing the plan as "neither a proposal nor a project but just an idea to launch debate."

[DinoDoc]

Congress
France
Abu Mazen

[Az]

[Agathon]

Like they're going to pay. Another example of an overweight judicial system engaging in frivolous lawsuits.

And **** the US Government. They won't buy into an international criminal court because they don't want to surrender any legal powers, yet they think that other countries should enforce theirs. Pathetic hypocritical Nazis.

And leave the political wing of Hamas alone. Sooner or later you will have to deal fairly with them, just like the Unionists have to deal with Sinn Fein.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Agathon
And leave the political wing of Hamas alone.

Why? Money is a fungible comodity.

[Whaleboy]

Theres a time and a place for everything. The USA and the fragile peace process is not it.

[DinoDoc]

Are you stoned again?

[Agathon]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Why? Money is a fungible comodity.

It's common sense. The British Government moaned on for years how they wouldn't deal with Sinn Fein because it was the political wing of a (largely US citizen funded) terrorist organisation and in the end they had to because that's who the Republicans wanted to represent them.

Hamas isn't going away, despite Ariel Sharon's dreams and it would be better to have a properly political organisation to deal with when peace eventually comes.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Agathon
It's common sense.

Given that Israel is already dealing Israel is already dealing with the PA and hell will likely freeze over before a) Hamas signs a peace deal with Israel and b) any Israeli government survives long enough to finish the speech where they lay out plans to deal with Hamas as an equal peace partner how do you rationalize this statement?

[Agathon]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Given that Israel is already dealing Israel is already dealing with the PA and hell will likely freeze over before a) Hamas signs a peace deal with Israel and b) any Israeli government survives long enough to finish the speech where they lay out plans to deal with Hamas as an equal peace partner how do you rationalize this statement?

This was once true of the British Government. The way I see the Israel issue is:

(a) Things continue as they are and people die until Hamas and their ilk get their hands on major WMD's (which is only a matter of time, since these things get cheaper every day). Then things get really bad.

(b) People wake up and smell the coffee; realise that no one can win; and attempt some political solution.

The fact that the "peace process" keeps coming back again and again shows that the smart people on both sides know what the only possible solution is. The political wing of Hamas is just that: politicians. And we all know they'll huff and they'll puff, but in the end they will be realists.

Israel isn't going anywhere; neither are the Palestinians. Dismantle all (or most) of the settlements and give the Palestinians a chunk of Jerusalem. If necessary make the Temple Mount a politically neutral zone run by equal numbers of councillors from both sides. If need be, Bush should show some balls and mildly threaten the Israelis. If it works the political fallout for him would be mostly good.

What other kind of peace can you see happening? I see no realistic alternative.

[DanS]

It's amazing the contortions some will go through in order to deny the undeniable--that Hamas is a terrorist organization.

That said, there's no chance in hell that Hamas will end up paying this money.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by DanS
It's amazing the contortions some will go through in order to deny the undeniable--that Hamas is a terrorist organization.

It's amazing the contortions that some will go through in order to deny that eventually they'll have to deal with the "terrorists" politically.

[Urban Ranger]

The case was filed under the Antiterrorism Act of 1991. It allows American victims of terrorism overseas to seek damages in U-S courts.

Yet another example of US Unilateralism. So US courts can have extraterritorial powers, but courts in other counties may not.

[DanS]

No, the US courts don't have extraterritorial powers, since the awards can only be levied against assets in the US.