The Palestinian Mission to the United Nations denounced Israel's killing of "peaceful demonstrators" and appealed for international protection of Palestinian civilians in a letter sent to the Security Council Tuesday.



Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, also called for investigations into the deaths of 18 Palestinians in clashes with the IDF as part of the "March of Return" protests in the Gaza Strip.

Israel

Israel

"The Palestinians that were killed or injured were exercising their right to peaceful protest," the letter states. "However the occupying Power had once again, in a premeditated manner, adopted a shoot-to-kill policy."The IDF has stated at that at least 10 of those killed were known terrorists.The letter quoted a recent column by left-wing Israeli journalist Gideon Levy and a press statement by B'tselem — The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, describing the scene as a "massacre."Since protests began on the Gaza border on Friday, over 1,500 Palestinians have been wounded according to the Gaza health ministry.Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, have stated numerous times that Israel would not let its sovereignty be breached or allow harm to come to its border fence with Gaza."I warn (Gaza protesters) against continuing the provocation. We have set clear game rules and we do not intend to change them. Every person who comes close to the fence is endangering their lives," he said on a visit to the border."This was a well-organized provocation by Hamas's armed wing in an attempt to harm our sovereignty, to disrupt daily life and to disturb Israelis on their Seder (traditional Passover meal) night. We are doing what we must do."In Gaza, protesters have begun gathering thousands of mirrors which they hope to use to blindi soldiers on the other side of the fence in planned protests this Friday. The protesters say they also intend to use laser pointers to distracti army sharpshooters.Reuters contributed to this report

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`; document.getElementById("linkPremium").innerHTML = cont; (function (v, i){ });</s>The Palestinian Authority Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Riyad al-Maliki told the official Voice of Palestine radio on Monday morning that the next PA move at the United Nations would be to request from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterich to push forward his proposal on the formation of a commission of inquiry into Friday’s clashes at the Gaza Strip Border. Failing that, the PA would submit to the Security Council a draft resolution to establish such a commission.

“The first option is to ensure that the secretary-general does not back down from his demand to form a commission of inquiry while the United States will try to thwart the adoption of the draft resolution in the Security Council,” Al-Maliki said.

In addition to the UN Security Council, the PA diplomats have been instructed by Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to appeal to the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council, as well as the International Criminal Court.

Maliki is now heading to Baku, Azerbaijan, to attend a conference of foreign ministers of the non-aligned nations, where he plans to call on the participants to support the PA’s steps in UN organizations.

As to the upcoming Arab summit in Riyadh, al-Maliki said that Friday’s clashes would be added to its agenda.

As to the recognition of a Palestine State, al-Maliki pointed to an upcoming meeting of the Parliament of Slovenia, which will discuss the issue this month. He noted that France may be next to recognize a Palestinian State following a meeting of Presidents Macron and Trump on April 22.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization gained a legal victory at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday as the justices refused to consider reinstating a $655.5 million jury award won against them by 11 American families over militant attacks in Israel.

 The court declined to hear the families' appeal of a lower court's 2016 ruling throwing out the jury award that was secured in a lawsuit brought under the Anti-Terrorism Act, a law allowing American victims of international terrorism to seek damages in U.S. courts.

 The families had looked to hold the Palestinian Authority and PLO liable for six shootings and bombings between 2002 and 2004 in the Jerusalem area that killed 33 people, including several Americans, and wounded more than 450.

 "It's outrageous that the murderous Palestinian Authority is allowed to kill innocent civilians and not have to pay any cost. This is a horrible travesty of justice for the families and we will not let it stand," said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, president of the Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center, which represents the American families.

 The PLO's chief representative in Washington, Husam Zomlot, said in a statement that "this decision reaffirms the vital relationship between the Palestinian and American people, which depends on mutual respect and, as importantly, on respect for the rule of law."

 President Donald Trump's administration had sided with the Palestinian Authority and PLO in the dispute, urging the justices not to take up the case because the specific claims could not be brought under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

 "The United States condemns acts of terror in the strongest terms and the Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting those who commit terrorist attacks against innocent human beings to the fullest extent that the law allows," U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said.

 The attacks at the center of the lawsuit have been attributed to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas. Lead plaintiff Mark Sokolow, his wife and their two daughters were injured in a 2002 suicide bombing in Jerusalem.

 

 JURISDICTION QUESTION

 The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that the civil lawsuit, which began in January 2004, be dismissed. The appeals court said the attacks occurred "entirely outside" U.S. territory, and found no evidence that Americans were targeted. As a result, American courts do not have jurisdiction to hear the claims, it said.

 The families said late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004, and his agents routinely arranged for payments to attackers and to families of militants who died. The Palestinian Authority and PLO have said they condemned the attacks and blamed them on rogue individuals within the organizations acting on their own.

 In 2015, after a six-week trial, a federal jury in Manhattan awarded the families $218.5 million, which was tripled automatically to $655.5 million under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

 Lawyers for the plaintiffs said the appeals court decision "eviscerates the Anti-Terrorism Act" by severely limiting what cases can be heard in U.S. courts. They argued that Congress wrote the law specifically to apply to attacks that took place outside the United States in which U.S. citizens were injured or killed, whether or not Americans were specifically targeted.

 In a separate case on a similar theme, the Supreme Court in February blocked a group of Americans injured in a 1997 suicide bombing in Jerusalem from seizing ancient Persian artifacts from a Chicago museum to satisfy a $71.5 million court judgment against Iran, which they had accused of complicity in the attack. 

 The Supreme Court in another case is weighing whether Jordan-based Arab Bank Plc can be sued over legal claims that it helped finance militant attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories. A ruling is due by the end of June.

 

 (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
The Palestinian Authority asks the United Nations to investigate.