Jerusalem Absentee Law A Major Roadblock to Peace
The Israeli attorney-general has dangerously declared that property in East Jerusalem owned by Palestinians in the West Bank could be confiscated by the Israeli state.
One of the most controversial Israeli laws that have been attacked as having a racist connotation was passed in the Israeli Knesset in 1950. The Absentee Law considered property belonging to Palestinians who left their lands and homes during the 1948 war to automatically belong to the Custodian of Absentee Property. This controversial law is being applied to lands in East Jerusalem whose owners live in nearby West Bank cities. Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jerusalem were part of one country in 1967. It is typical for Palestinians to own land in East Jerusalem even if they don’t live in Jerusalem.
The Israeli news site Ynet quoted a statement made by the Israeli attorney general in an Israeli court that this 1950 law is being used against Palestinian property. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein stated that property in East Jerusalem belonging to Palestinian residents of the West Bank is to be defined as Absentee's property. Weinstein was asked to produce a ruling on the issue in the course of a Supreme Court debate. Ynet states that in the past, attorneys general have given differing instructions on the subject, and now the Supreme Court has to rule whether Weinstein's stance is acceptable.
Until a few years ago, Palestinians living outside Jerusalem had access to their properties. With the raising of the wall, creation of checkpoints and introduction of the “pass” permit system, Palestinians living in West Bank cities other than Jerusalem need permits from the Israeli army’s coordinator office to visit Jerusalem and access their lands. These permits are given at the whim of the Israelis and there are no clear criteria on who gets permits or for what reasons permits are rejected.
With Palestinians unable to access their properties in Jerusalem and with the lawlessness that exists in the Palestinian half of the city, thugs have taken over some of these properties as their own. Israeli officials have been vague on the issue of applying the absentee law, which falls clearly under the Fourth Geneva Convention that renders taking property from the occupied to be contrary to international law.
