NEW YORK — The Palestine Liberation Organization can’t win dismissal of a lawsuit by victims of bombings in Israel by claiming the attacks were acts of war rather than terrorism, a judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge George Daniels said the 2004 lawsuit on behalf of victims and their families can proceed toward trial. It seeks up to $3 billion in damages from attacks between January 2001 and February 2004.
Daniels rejected the PLO’s argument that two machine- gun attacks and five bombings were acts of war. The Jerusalem-area attacks killed 33 people and wounded hundreds, including scores of U.S. citizens.
Daniels said the attacks targeted public places — not military or government personnel or interests.
The suit was brought under the Antiterrorism Act of 1991, which provides U.S. residents, their survivors and heirs civil remedies in U.S. courts if they are injured by international terrorism.
