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Template:Totally-disputed The Palestinian Land Laws are Palestinian Authority (PA) laws that prohibit Palestinians in the Palestinian territories from selling land to Jews. These land laws were originally enacted during the Jordanian occupation of the West Bank, and are deemed by the Palestinian Authority as being necessary to prevent further expansion of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories and to "halt the spread of moral, political and security corruption". The law carries a sentence of the death penalty.

Law

This Palestinian "military law" dates back to 1979 and states that it is forbidden for a Palestinian to sell land to Jews. The law mimicks an earlier prohibition which was first instituted by Ottoman authorities in 1892, when it became forbidden for foreign Jews to purchase land in Palestine. A similar law, later enacted by Transjordan when it occupied the West Bank from 1948 to 1967, made it a crime carrying the death penalty for a Jordanian citizen to sell land to Jews. In May 1997, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) declared that it would seek the death penalty for transgressors. In April 2009, following new reports of land sales to American Jews, the PA issued a warning that selling land to Jews was high treason and punishable by death.

The law has received backing by several Islamic clerics, issuing a number of Fatwās (decrees) that prohibit the sale of land to Jews. In April 2009, Chief Islamic Judge of the Palestinian Authority Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamini, asserting that the Israeli government was attempting to alter the demographics of Jerusalem by expelling Palestinians from the city, ruled that it was a "grave sin" to sell land to Jews.

The land law is reported to contribute to causing Palestinian Christians to feel intimidated, as many ordinary Palestinians have misinterpreted the law to mean a prohibition of sale of property not only to Jews but to any non-Muslim. This misperception is due in part to some Muslim clerics labeling all non-Muslims as "infidels."

Reasoning

In 1997 PA authorities said that violators of the law are punished by death in order to prevent the further expansion of Jewish Settlements. In April 2009 a correspondent for Al Jazeera explained that the sale of land to Jews was considered to be treason because the buyers are "Israeli settlers who are literally taking up Palestinian land that does not belong to them," thus "undermining Palestinian aspirations for statehood."

In April 2009, it was reported that some Jewish businessmen from the United States purchased twenty dunams of land from a Palestinian in the Mount of Olives area of Jerusalem. Consequently, the fatwa was reissued. Sheikh Tamini said that the law was needed to counter Israeli attempt to change the Arab and Islamic culture of Jerusalem and changing it into a Jewish city. :

"The city of Jerusalem is the religious, political and spiritual capital of the Palestinians," he said. "The Jews have no rights in Jerusalem. This is an occupied city like the rest of the territories that were occupied in 1967."

Another reason given by the PA is that the law was enacted in order "halt the spread of moral, political and security corruption.

Death penalty

The number of people executed for selling land to Jews is unclear. According to the Jerusalem Post, there have yet to be any executions for transgressing the land law. According to the BBC, as of May 2009, two people had ever been officially executed for selling land to Jews. Additionally, a number of Palestinians have also been "summarily executed" in a fashion "strongly suggesting" PA involvement in their murders. In 1997, shortly after the Palestinian Legislative Council announced that violators of the Palestinian Land Law would incur a death sentence, three land dealers were found dead. One of three, Farid Bashiti was found with his hands bound and with blows to his head. The PA never charged anyone with any of the murders. According to Human Rights Watch, the three were killed under circumstances that "strongly suggested PA tolerance if not involvement in the murders." Freih Abu Mediein, the PA Justice Minister at that time, reacted: "As I have said before, expect the unexpected for these matters because nobody from this moment will accept any traitor who sells his land to Israelis".

On April 27, 2009, a Palestinian court sentenced Anwat Breghit to death by hanging after finding him guilty of selling land in Beit Ummar to Israelis. It was expected that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would refuse to give the necessary approval for the execution. Abbas has consistently refused to approve executions.

See also

• Antisemitism in the Arab world
• Human rights in the Palestinian National Authority
• Land and Property Laws in Israel

References

1. ^ Weiner, Justus Reid (2005). Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society (PDF). page 22: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. p. 57. ISBN 9652180483,. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: location (link)
2. ^ Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties, 1997-1998. page 577: Transaction Publishers. 1998. p. 610. ISBN 076580476X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
3. ^ Human Rights Watch World Report 1998. page 340: Human Rights Watch. 1997. p. 512. ISBN 1564321762.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
4. ^ "Israel Investigates Death Of an Arab Land Dealer". The New York Times. 1997-05-11. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
5. ^ Abu Toameh, Khaled (2009-04-01). "PA: Death Penalty for Those who Sell Land to Jews". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
6. ^ Palestinian Handed Death Sentence, BBC News, 29 April 2009
7. ^ "Death Verdict over W. Bank Land Sale". Al Jazeera English. 2009-04-29. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
8. Abu Toameh, Khaled (2009-04-29). "PA court: Death to man who sold land to Jews". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
9. A history of Palestine By Gudrun Krämer, Graham Harman, pg. 121.
10. ^ Shehadeh, Raja (1985). Occupier's law. Institute for Palestine Studies. p. 39. ISBN 0887282008. Cite error: The named reference "Canfield" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
11. M. Sennott, Charles (1999-01-17). "Christians Anxious Under Palestinian Rule". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
12. ^ Human Rights Watch World Report 1998. page 341: Human Rights Watch. 1997. p. 512. ISBN 1564321762.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
13. "West Bank: Death Penalty for Land Sale". Agence France-Presse. 2009-04-29. Retrieved 2009-05-02.
14. ^ Palestinian Faces Death for Selling Land to Israel, Associated Press, Israel News, 28 April 2009

• Fatwas
• Palestinian National Authority law
• Real property law
• Treason
• Capital punishment