Palestinian residents intend to sue the State of Israel for damages in U.S. courts and in other countries if the Knesset repasses a law barring suits in Israeli courts over damages incurred in non-warfare incidents.

Palestinians with grounds for suits against the Israeli army over bodily harm and property damage sustained during the armed conflict since September 2000 have already contacted American law firms through Adalah-Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. U.S. law permits suits against countries responsible for "humanitarian damages" in situations where the victims have no legal recourse in the offending country.

According to Adalah's director, attorney Hassan Jabareen, the possibility of filing suits overseas has come up again in view of the initiative by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann to legislate anew the so-called "intifada law," which was tossed out by the High Court of Justice half a year ago.

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Until now, Israelis were the ones to take advantage of the U.S. law permitting damages suits against state entities where these suits are not allowed. Such proceedings are ongoing against Arab Bank, which operates in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and which the plaintiffs claim bankroll terrorists who cause mass carnage among Israelis.

Adalah last year approached several prominent New York law firms about the possibility of Palestinian suits in the U.S. and elsewhere, in case the High Court throws out the petition to abolish the law.

"It seems the justice minister does not grasp the judicial possibilities at hand," Jabareen said. "If the law is repassed, we will initiate individual claims overseas."

He added that Friedmann's legislative effort severely violates the rights of Palestinians. "It conveys a grave message that the lives and property of the Palestinians are up for grabs, and that nobody will pay the price even if he harms the lives of Palestinians, something that is contrary to international humanitarian justice and to Israeli law," he said.

Meanwhile, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel has sent Friedmann a protest letter.

"Amending a Basic Law to enable repassage of a law that was abolished by the High Court for violating human rights is a dangerous and unprecedented step," ACRI's legal adviser, Dan Yakir, wrote to the minister.