03:36 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Can just a few people really make a difference in the fight against terrorism?

A woman in the Air Force and her lawyer in Dallas believe they can. Their weapon is a lawsuit in the American courts.

Terror struck a group of Americans in the middle of a good deed: delivering Fulbright scholarships to Palestinians. Among the dead was John Linde, who had quit the U.S. Marines to do private security. He needed more money because his young wife had bone cancer.

"After the bombing I was grieving, miserable," said widow Courtney Linde. "I was crying and I was watching TV, trying to find out more. They were throwing rocks at the soldiers who were going in trying to collect my husband's remains, (along with) the other men who were killed."

Courtney Linde is now on active duty at a Texas Air Force base, and she's fighting back. She is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit in which 10 families are suing the Jordan-based Arab Bank, a $25 billion institution. The suit claims the Arab Bank conspired with the terrorist group Hamas to bankroll terrorism, and issued payments of more than $42 million to terrorists.

"This bank attended meetings, and documents specifically show this bank was a knowing part of a scheme to kill American citizens and other innocent citizens," said attorney Mark Werbner.

Werbner, based in Dallas, claims the Arab Bank breaks America's anti-terrorism laws by funneling millions from the Middle East and Europe - along with money from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in Richardson - into the occupied territories.

The Arab Bank released a statement calling this charge false and totally irresponsible. The statement said the Arab Bank is "globally respected" and "tightly regulated," adding that the "litigation ... will be forcefully defended in the courts."

Werbner claims to have plenty of proof, however, including an ad which he said invites families of martyrs to come to the Arab Bank to pick up what amounts to death benefits for suicide bombers.

"Certainly offering these kinds of monies to these populations is a strong inducement," Werbner said. "It's a financial inducement, it's a bounty - a reward - and it's affecting the violence."

Local Muslims said Americans misunderstand the term "martyrs." They said the donations aren't for terrorists, but anyone victimized by the Israelis.

"We are talking about people who are getting killed in Palestine at checkpoints on their way to work, (or) as they are going to school," said Iyas Maleh of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Courtney Linde believes if she wins her lawsuit, she'll prove a few families can make a real difference.

"I'm doing this to stop terrorism, so that other families don't have to go what I'm going through," she said. "It's a terrible thing to lose someone you love that much. I don't want anyone to have to feel that."

The trial will take place in Brooklyn, New York.