- Source: 2003 Route 60 vehicle shooting
On 20 June 2003, the Goldsteins, an Israeli family of four, were in a car on Route 60 in the West Bank headed towards Jerusalem when two Hamas members waiting in ambush on the roadside opened fire with AK-47s, hitting all four occupants. With the driver, Tzvi Goldstein, injured, the front passenger and father of the driver took the steering wheel and helped drive the car away from the gunmen and for a further eight miles in search of help before the car flipped over.
Tzvi, an American-Israeli settler who had emigrated from the US a decade earlier, died of his injuries, while his family all survived, though with varying degrees of injury, after being taken to Hadassah Medical Center.
Responsibility
Hamas immediately claimed responsibility for the shooting attack. This claim, in 2003, was described by the Haaretz newspaper as "surprising," since, according to writer Amos Harel, before the attack, the "militant Islamic organization (Hamas) has almost completely avoided carrying out shootings in the West Bank, focusing instead on using suicide bombers, primarily within the Green Line.
On 21 June, the Israel Defense Forces killed Abdullah Qawasmeh, who was believed to be the senior Hamas commander in the Hebron area.
Immediate impact
The attack was also described as disruptive to the Road map for peace, an initiative involving United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was in Jerusalem at the time of the ambush. According to Ian Fisher of The New York Times, the attack was interpreted "as a message to Mr. Powell, the Israelis and its Palestinian supporters that Hamas remains strong and very much active."
Lawsuit
In 2004 Lorraine and Eugene Goldstein, who live in Plainview, New York, sued the Arab Bank for laundering money used to fund Hamas terror attacks targeting Israelis, including the attack in which his son, Howard, was killed.
In 2006, the Goldsteins joined a group of 50 American victims of terrorism (survivors or relatives of people murdered by terrorists), suing three large international banks, Crédit Lyonnais, Arab Bank, and NatWest, alleging that all three banks were involved in channeling money to Hamas, which has been listed by the government of the United States as a terrorist organization since 1997. The Anti-Terrorism Act enables American victims of acts of terrorism that take place outside the United States can sue for damages in federal courts.
In August 2015, Arab Bank agreed to a confidential settlement with hundreds of American victims of terrorism, including the Goldsteins.