PA PLEADS POVERTY TO AVOID COURT JUDGMENT FOR TERROR

Palestinian Groups Seek Relief from Court Order in Terrorism Case - Toni Locy (AP/Boston Globe)
The Palestinian Authority is asking a federal judge to reconsider an order to pay nearly $200,000 to the estate of a couple killed in Israel in a terrorist attack, saying the PLO Mission in Washington will have to close if the money is turned over.

Relatives of Yaron and Efrat Ungar, who died in a June 1996 attack carried out by Hamas, the PA, and the PLO, filed suit in Rhode Island in 2000 under the Antiterrorism Act. Four years later, a federal judge there ordered the groups to pay the relatives $116 million. Last year, the judge froze the groups' assets. Last week, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler agreed to order the surrender of nearly $200,000 that the PLO Mission had in a bank account to be put toward the outstanding $116 million judgment. Kessler said the Palestinian groups had presented "no facts" to support their contention that turning over the money would result in the closure of the PLO Mission.