(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Arab Bank settled a US lawsuit with hundreds of victims who accused it of financing a wave of violence that killed or wounded Americans in Israel in the early 2000s.
The agreement avoids the damages phase of a trial that would have been a painful exercise to calculate the "human cost of terrorism."
"The parties have reached an agreement to settle the litigation," plaintiffs lawyer Michael Elsner, of the law firm Motley Rice said in a statement. "The framework will be finalised over the next few months."
The lender's financial services were used by Hamas fighters in carrying out devastating attacks against civilians during a Palestinian uprising, including suicide bombings in restaurants and public buses in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem from 2001 to 2004, a jury in Brooklyn, New York, found in September. It was the first trial of its kind in the US.
US District Judge Brian Cogan was scheduled to begin questioning a group of potential jurors on Monday for the damages phase. Lawyers for the bank and about 300 victims and relatives agreed to settle instead.
Arab Bank's lawyer, Shand Stephens, didn't immediately return a call on Friday seeking comment on the settlement.
A six-week trial last year highlighted the ways banks can play a role in funding militant groups and the extent to which they can be held responsible in court for monitoring customers.
The trial was the first against a bank on civil claims of violating the US Anti-Terrorism Act, which lets American citizens, who are victims of terrorism, sue alleged supporters of attacks.
Arab Bank, the biggest lender in Jordan, was found liable for doing business with more than 150 Hamas leaders and operatives.
Cogan in April rejected Arab Bank's bid to set aside the jury's finding. The judge also dismissed claims related to two of the attacks, ruling there wasn't enough evidence Hamas was to blame.
Arab Bank said in a statement in April that Cogan's rejection of a new trial on liability was "predictable" and "fundamentally flawed."
Arab Bank chairman Sabih al-Masri, testifying for the company, said the attacks "destroyed opportunities for peace" and denied ever hearing that the bank supported terrorism.
Al-Masri, who took over management of the lender in 2012, told jurors his brother was killed by a terrorist and his own life had been threatened because a company he owns supplied food to US troops in the Middle East.
The plaintiffs alleged there was a well-known link between Arab Bank and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that was designated a terrorist organisation in 1997 by the US.
Arab Bank started in Jerusalem in 1930 and is now based in Amman. The lender has about 600 branches worldwide, including the office in Manhattan and a presence in Palestinian territories.
The case is Linde v. Arab Bank Plc, 04-cv-02799, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
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