Wheels of justice spin slowly in Jericho casino case

Since January 2002, far from the limelight and the armed clashes between Israel and the Palestinians, the civil court in Ramallah has slowly been going about its business. Most of the court's sessions were repeatedly postponed, and the trial began in earnest only some 18 months ago, when Marwan Darwazi, who served as an accountant at the Oasis Casino in Jericho, began testifying on the damages incurred by Cap Holding, the gambling establishment's management company, as a result of the outbreak of the intifada.

A little more than a year after the casino closed down, Cap, a company registered in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, initiated legal proceedings against the Gaza Ahliea Insurance Company, which provided cover for the casino through five European insurance firms in London, Paris and Munich. Cap is seeking compensation to the tune of $45,686,000 for loss of income and damage caused to the site during the course of clashes between the Israel Defense Forces and armed Palestinians at the start of the intifada.

The suit is likely to remain under discussion for years to come, and no one knows how it will end; but the claim, the defense statement and the documents filed with them reveal for the first time the extent of the casino's operations during its peak years - 1999 and 2000.

According to records submitted by Cap, following its establishment, the casino was visited by some 825,000 people - 99 percent of them Israelis. In 2000, an average of 2,809 people frequented the casino daily in any given month. The figures also show that Cap turned a $54 million net profit from the casino in 1999.

The average number of visitors and the establishment's revenues took a hard knock with the outbreak of the intifada. During the first three days of the conflict, the numbers didn't change, with around 2,900 people a day still visiting the site. By October 1, the average had dropped to 125 a day, and eventually plummeted to zero a few days later.

Cap is partly owned by Casino Austria, which is controlled by Martin Schlaff, a close associate of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mohammed Rashid, who served as economic adviser to the late

Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat.

In October 1999, Cap took out coverage for the casino with the Gaza Ahliea Insurance Company under a policy against fire, as well as the loss of assets in the event of a deterioration in the security situation. According to Cap's claim, the policy and its appendices provide coverage against "acts of terror, clashes and conflicts."

The company says the policy in its possession covers all the types of insurance required and available in the market, and argues that it closed down the casino and suspended the employment of its staff because of the intifada. It is demanding the maximum compensation for loss of income that the policy stipulates - $45 million. The additional sum of $686,000 relates to damage caused to casino building as a result of the violence.

In its response to the court, the Gaza Ahliea Insurance Company argues that Cap systematically breached the terms of the policy and its appendices and that the claim is an "annoyance and designed to bother the company for no reason."

"Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount constitutes an evil Israeli declaration of war [a definition not covered by the policy, A.R.] that encompassed all of Palestine, and therefore all the claimed damages are not covered," the insurance company argues.

It also rejects Cap's figures on its revenues and the damages it incurred.

Meanwhile, on the eve of the handing over of control in Jericho to the Palestinian police and the general easing of tensions in the territories, not everyone in the PA is enthusiastic about the possibility that the casino will be reopened. "It is one of the distinctly negative symbols of corruption in the PA that the current leadership wishes to distance itself from," a senior PA official told Haaretz.

The official added, nevertheless, that the casino couldn't simply disappear. "But one can hope that if it is operated, its management and the management of the money that comes into the PA from it will be transparent and open to all."

	The Oasis Casino in Jericho.
	Photo by: Archive