WASHINGTON - U.S. Supreme Court Declines To Block Judgment Against PLO Over Deaths Of Jewish Couple

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to disturb a $116 million judgment against the Palestinian Authority and the PLO in the deaths of a Jewish couple near the West Bank.

The PLO and the Palestinian Authority had been sued in federal court in Rhode Island over the 1996 drive-by shooting of Yaron Ungar, an American citizen, and his Israeli wife, Efrat, as the couple returned home from a wedding.

The family’s relatives argued that the PLO and Palestinian Authority provided a safe haven and operational base for Hamas. A judge issued a default judgment after the PLO did not respond.

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the lawyer for the PLO, told justices in the appeal last month that Ungar relatives have "commenced sweeping national and international efforts" to collect the millions of dollars, including an attempt to seize Palestine’s UN Mission building in New York.