Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — A U.S. federal district court has ordered the
destruction of a secret memorandum that links the Palestinian Authority to
the killing of three Jewish teenagers.

The federal district court in Washington has ruled that the PA could
conceal a document that linked the Ramallah regime to a Palestinian suicide
bombing in which two Americans and an Israeli were killed in 2002. The memo
was mistakenly relayed to attorneys of the plaintiffs in their $300 million
lawsuit against the PA and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

“This decision is incomprehensible,” Scott Shatsky, the father of one of
the victims, said. “It makes me feel that justice is not being done. Maybe I’m missing something, but to me it’s just outrageous.”

The Israel Law Center, representing the families of the
teenage victims, said the district court decision would be taken to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The center, which has sued the State Department for failing to account for U.S. aid to PA security forces, said the families have also sought intervention by Congress, the FBI and the Justice Department.

The three teenagers were killed in a suicide bombing attributed to the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a faction of the PLO. The
families of the victims have asserted that they obtained evidence that the PA funded PFLP, including paying rent for its offices in the West Bank.

The plaintiffs have not released the PA memo. But U.S. media reports
asserted that the memo was written by PA General Intelligence Services Maj.
Ziad Abu Hamid. Abu Hamid has been identified as planner of the 2002 suicide
bombing, which killed Americans Keren Shatsky, 15; Rachel Thaler, 16, and
an Israeli, Nehemia Amar, 15.

The PA sought to retrieve the memo and appealed to the district court
that the document be destroyed. The court ordered the plaintiffs to return
or destroy the document.

“If returned or destroyed, this critically important evidence of murder
will likely be lost forever,” David Schoen, an attorney for the plaintiffs,
said. “It would also deprive Congress of the kind of evidence it must have
to evaluate whether to continue funding these defendants, only to see the
money go to support and reward terrorism against Americans.”

  Maj. Ziad Abu Hamid, Palestine Libertion Organization, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. judge rules for Palestinian Authority in terror attack that killed U.S. teens, U.S. judge rules Palestinian Authority can cover up link to terror attack