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Arab Bank found liable over Hamas attacks, U.S. jury says


    NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a first-of-its-kind case, a U.S. jury on Monday said Arab Bank Plc provided material support to Hamas, and must therefore compensate the victims of two dozen attacks the Islamic militant group allegedly carried out in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

    The judgment, which followed a closely watched six-week trial in Brooklyn federal court, came in what lawyers said was the first terrorism financing civil case to reach trial in the United States.

    Nearly 300 Americans who were either victims or related to victims of the attacks had sued Arab Bank.

    They accused the Jordan-based bank of knowingly maintaining accounts for Hamas operatives, and financing millions in payments for the families of suicide bombers and those imprisoned or injured during a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000.

    (Reporting by Bernard Vaughan and Joseph Ax; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)