NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. jury on Monday found Arab Bank Plc liable for providing material support to Hamas and said it must compensate victims of two dozen attacks attributed to the Islamic militant group in Israel and the Palestinian territories. “Arab Bank does business in many countries throughout the world, including in Europe, that will enforce a judgment from the United States,” he said. Similar lawsuits are pending in New York against Bank of China Ltd, which is accused of providing services to Palestine Islamic Jihad, and Credit Lyonnais SA, which is accused of aiding Hamas. The plaintiffs, about 300 victims of the attacks or their relatives, are seeking unspecified damages from Arab Bank that will be decided at a separate proceeding. They accused the Jordanian bank of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act, a law that lets victims of U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations such as Hamas seek damages. “You are at least partially responsible if it’s discovered you are, inadvertently or not, financing nefarious activity.” 
 
 Lee Wolosky, a lawyer representing plaintiffs against Bank of China, said Monday’s verdict shows “it is insufficient to simply say it is the job of governments to identify terrorists.” 
 
 He also said the Arab Bank plaintiffs should be able to enforce any damages awarded. Circuit Court of Appeals “is going to reverse this.” 
 
 Mark Werbner, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs, said the verdict sends a message that “when a bank opens its doors to terrorists, they’re going to be held accountable.” 
 
 In a separate case, the 2nd Circuit ruled on Monday that Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s National Westminster Bank unit must face claims by terrorism victims over banking services it gave a charity linked to Hamas. “GREAT DEAL OF KNOWLEDGE” 
 
 Arab Bank had been accused of knowingly maintaining accounts for Hamas operatives, and financing millions of dollars in payments for families of suicide bombers and those imprisoned or injured during a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000. “You take the money away.” 
 
 Lawyers for Arab Bank countered that most of the people and organizations alleged to have received improper banking services had not been designated by the U.S. government as terrorists. In a statement, the bank said the verdict “comes as no surprise” after a series of what it considered legally incorrect court rulings that kept it from mounting a proper defence, and effectively “put Hamas on trial.” 
 
 The bank also said the verdict exposes banks such as itself to “enormous liability” for providing routine banking services. He said the bank agreed to pay the penalty “in order to put this matter behind us.” 
 
 The case is Linde v. Arab Bank Plc, 04-cv-02799, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
– From now on, "when a bank opens its doors to terrorists, they're going to be held accountable," a lawyer said after a landmark US verdict against a Middle Eastern bank yesterday. A federal jury in New York found Arab Bank—Jordan's biggest lender—liable for 24 terrorist attacks Hamas carried out in Israel early last decade because it did business with the group's leaders and scores of operatives, reports the New York Times. Lawyers say the case—brought by almost 300 Americans who were injured in the attacks or were relatives of victims—is the first terrorism financing civil case to go to court in the US, Reuters reports. The lawsuit charged that Hamas used the bank for making payments to the families of suicide bombers. "There's a huge sense of relief—it is an amazing verdict," one of the plaintiffs, a Detroit man injured in a 2003 suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, tells Bloomberg. "This is a huge wake-up call, not just for banks, but for all big businesses, to wash their hands of these kinds of clients." The bank, whose lawyers called the evidence "a mile wide and an inch deep" and argued that designating terrorists is a job for governments, not banks, plans to appeal the verdict. Another trial will determine damages for the plaintiffs.