A federal court in New York City has told the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) it will grant them a retrial in the lawsuit demanding $192.7 million in damages if they agree to put down the money as bail.
The defendants refused to state their care in the original court case, which ended in a verdict in favor of the family of American citizen Aharon Ellis, who was killed at the age of 31 while performing in 2002 at a Hadera bat mitzvah celebration when PA terrorists attacked. The PA has offered to post only a $15 million bond, arguing that putting down the whole sum would bankrupt it.
Lawyers for Ellis's family responded that they are sure the PLO and PA have money socked away in foreign accounts. "We think we can prove that there are hundreds of millions of dollars that are available in assets by both of these defendants," according to attorney David J. Strachman, quoted Monday morning in The New York Times.