Sunday, May 06, 2012

Land Disputes Can Be Problematic

From Alex Traiman's oped (Alex resides in the Ulpana neighborhood):-

The 'Ulpana' is neither an outpost nor illegal....The court’s verdict [to demolish] is predicated on the concept that the 30 apartments in these five buildings, unlike the nine adjacent buildings, are “built on private Palestinian land.”
In the case of Ulpana, the facts are not so clear. In 2000, the Beit El Development Company completed a land purchase agreement with the person it believed to be the rightful inheritor of the property, a grandson of the property holder according to Jordanian land records. Beit El, through an Arab intermediary, paid the local landowner 300,000 shekels ($79,000) for 30 dunams (7.4 acres) of land.
The money was essentially a gift to the landowner. The land in question is all within the boundaries of an existing community, in “Area C” under full Israeli control as determined by the Oslo Peace Accords. Due to the obvious security concerns to the residents, Beit El is protected by an electric-sensor security fence. No Jew may enter the neighboring Arab towns, and no Arab may cross into Beit El. In other words, the owner or previous owner has absolutely no possibility of accessing the property...the Beit El Development Company sued the new cousin for fraud in the Magistrates’ Court. Though this case, which will determine actual ownership of the property, remains open, the Supreme Court opted to rule on the fate of the buildings together with several isolated caravan outposts across Samaria...

...Shouldn’t the Supreme Court wait for a relevant ruling from its lower court before deciding the fate of Jewish homes? And in a democracy, are buildings knocked down in land disputes, even if the builders are found culpable? In a free-market society, aren’t there monetary means of resolving such disputes? Why does the Israeli Supreme Court rely on Jordanian land records when Jordan’s occupation of the West Bank was never internationally recognized? Further, Israel signed an internationally recognized peace treaty with Jordan in 1994, that ended all Jordanian claims to the territory.
According to Israeli law, property that has not been worked for a period of 10 years reverts to the state’s land authority. Why is this law not applied to land in Judea and Samaria? More importantly, why is the Israeli Supreme Court in this case relying on a ruling from Palestinian Authority court?

...the details of this particular case do not lend themselves to such easy conclusions.
Let’s use the Ulpana case as an opportunity to re-evaluate the policies of adjudicating Jewish land ownership in Judea and Samaria. At the very least, let’s recognize that the ruling to destroy the Ulpana homes is not as just as many believe.
^

1 comment:

NormanF said...

The previous owner was already paid just compensation. Its no longer private Palestinian land if it once was. So what is the problem?

And if the Israel Supreme Court and government say Jews may never legally buy private Arab land in Judea and Samaria, is it not enforcing racist Jordanian legislation that bans real estate sales there to Jews? How is such a position legally and morally defensible?

Israel's position on land policy in Judea and Samaria is neither clear nor consistent except that Jews keep being placed in jeopardy. This ridiculous policy has to got to end for the sake of all concerned - soon.