The US Supreme Court has refused to freeze a $656m judgement against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) after the two groups said they were too cash-strapped to compensate Americans for attacks in Israel during the Second Intifada.

This comes 22 years after the lawsuit was first launched, and it means the collection of the funds can begin immediately.

In 2015, the plaintiffs, who said they were victims of attacks between 2002 and 2004, won the damages. Then in 2016, the US Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the judgment on the grounds that US courts cannot consider lawsuits against foreign groups if the violence was not aimed at American citizens.

“Congress passed special laws to make the Palestinian Authority submit to US jurisdiction against its will if it continued to provide families of martyred Palestinians with salaries,” Raed Jarrar, advocacy director with Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), told Middle East Eye.