Going after Hamas' bankers

NY Times:

Not one but two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up on a Jerusalem boulevard where an American college student, Jason Kirschenbaum, was strolling one night in December 2001. The blast shattered his left arm and hammered chunks of metal into his leg. But at least, he says, it left him alive.

Five months later, a suicide bomb blast hurled Gloria Kushner, a nurse, against a stand in an outdoor market, wrenching her spine. On a crowded bus, another bomber's shrapnel carved a hole in the shoulder of Sarri Singer, a youth group volunteer. Eugene Goldstein has a bullet lodged near his heart from an ambush. He does not have his son, who was killed at his side.

They are Americans who went to Israel and came home with enduring wounds after they were caught in attacks claimed by Hamas, the militant Islamic organization that took over the Palestinian government last month.

These victims of terrorism in a foreign land seek more than healing; they want justice, but lack a clear remedy. So they are trying a novel strategy: going after banks they say helped to finance Palestinian terrorism.

They are among some 50 Americans — either survivors or relatives of people killed in attacks — who have filed multimillion dollar suits in federal court in Brooklyn against three prominent international banks, Arab Bank, NatWest and Crédit Lyonnais. The suits charge that the banks helped to channel funds to Hamas, which the United States designated as a terrorist organization in 1997. Some of the suits claim that Arab Bank transferred millions of dollars in life insurance payments from a Saudi charity to families of suicide bombers, providing Hamas with a recruiting tool.

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This was one way the KKK was finally broken.

The Washington Post reports additional pressure on the Hamas led Palestinian Authority goverment.

The U.S. government has barred Americans from doing most business with the new Hamas-led Palestinian government, officials said Friday, stepping up U.S. financial pressure on the Islamic militant group.

In a memo obtained by The Associated Press, the U.S. Treasury Department said "transactions with the Palestinian Authority by U.S. persons are prohibited, unless licensed." It said the decision was based on "existing terrorism sanctions."

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"This restriction is limited to transactions with the PA government and does not apply to transactions with individuals or other entities in the Palestinian territories," it said.

The U.S. decision gives Americans doing business with the Palestinian government 30 days to end their dealings, according to the Treasury Department.

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This is in addition to the earlier cut off of US and Euro funding of the PA.