TEL AVIV, July 20, 2010 (WAFA)- Several Israeli Attorney Generals objected the application of the Absentee Property Law on annexed East Jerusalem – but the law was never annulled, and Israeli courts gave contradicting rulings on the matter.
However, a recent response filed by the Attorney General to the Israeli High Court implies that the Israeli government is willing to apply the law on East Jerusalem
Ir Amim, a Jerusalem NGO which advocates for a stable and equitable Jerusalem, issued Tuesday a brief report regarding the Absentee Property Law – a law that allows the State of Israel to claim properties of Palestinians. The report highlights that although application of this law in East Jerusalem is problematic both legally and politically – it is in the hands of the Israeli government to decide on the matter.
The report is published weeks after the State filed a response to the Israeli High Court, which indicates that the government is willing to apply the law in East Jerusalem as well. Since the annexation of East Jerusalem to this day, several Attorneys-General have voiced opposition to the law's application on East Jerusalem. The Israeli courts, which have addressed this issue many times over the years, gave contradicting rulings: some judges accepted Israel's right to expropriate real estate according to the law – and others sided with the AGs, and rejected the law's application.
However, a statement filed recently by current Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to the High Court, in response to four appeals filed by Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, supported the application of the Absentee Property law in the related cases.
If the Israeli High Court decides to side with the State on the matter, the decision will allow Israel to expropriate thousands of dunams of land and many properties from their Palestinian owners. This could result in worldwide outrage and criticism of Israel, and further complicate the attempts to reach a political and territorial settlement in Jerusalem.
The Absentee Property Law allows the State to expropriate land and properties of Palestinian residents and citizens of Arab countries who resided in any Arab country as of November 29, 1947. When East Jerusalem was annexed to Israel, in 1967, the law created an absurd situation, under which all Palestinian property in East Jerusalem became 'absentee property'. To remedy this problematic situation – a second law stated that the Absentee Property law will not be applied on Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem who were in East Jerusalem on the day of the annexation.
Overall, the State hardly applied the Absentee Property law within the boundaries of the annexed territory, but this policy changed in the late seventies and eighties. However, in 2004, the Attorney General then, Meni Mazuz, thwarted an attempt to broadly apply this law in East Jerusalem. Since then, there have been several instances of expropriation of Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem, especially in cases where the owners wished to register their properties.
'The current legal state of affairs allows the government, if it wishes, to gain control of Palestinian lands – whose owners sometimes reside a stone's throw away', says Ir Amim director Yehudith Oppenheimer. 'The application of the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem is another means of extending the Israeli control of a politically-disputed area, by unilaterally changing facts on the ground.'
