The Israeli cabinet has decided that more than half of the property
in East Jerusalem is government property and may be sold or leased to Jews.

The new policy was agreed on last summer but was not revealed until last
week.

The cabinet decision is based on the Absentee Property Law that defines an
absentee as someone who at the time of the 1948 War of Independence “was in any
part of the land of Israel that is outside the area of Israel.”

The Absentee Property Law declares that buildings and property owned by
“absentees” automatically become government property. Most of the property owners
in East Jerusalem live in Judea and Samaria, which were part of Jordan until
the country abandoned the land and its citizens during the Six-Day War in 1967.A
lawyer representing Arabs has appealed to Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz to
overturn the policy.

The revelation of the cabinet decision comes on the heels of secret purchases
by Jews of Arab buildings and the renewal of Jewish neighborhoods in several
areas. The Elad organization has bought dozens of buildings the past few years
in the original City of David, opposite the entrance to the Western Wall
(Kotel) plaza, and dozens of Jewish families live there.

The city of Jerusalem recently announced plans to build on an empty lot in
east Jerusalem, and several Jewish neighborhoods have sprung up in places where
Jews once lived until being forced out by Arab terrorism.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 31st, 2005 and is filed under ourjerusalem.