Palestinian Refugee Properties in JERUSALEM and Israeli Law

A Measure of Inequality

In April a Palestinian family in Jerusalem was evicted from their residence when members of the Settlers of Zion movement took control of several pre-1948 Jewish properties in the eastern Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. According to an agreement reached between UNRWA and the Jordanian government after 1948, homes of Jews in the area could be rented to refugees, many of whom came from the western village of Lifta, on condition that the land not be registered in the names of the refugees.

The return of these properties to Jews was facilitated after the 1967 Israeli occupation of the eastern parts of Jerusalem. According to Israel's 1970 Administrative Matters Law, former Jewish residents of the eastern areas of Jerusalem were permitted to reclaim their property held by the Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property. The same law exempted Palestinians living in 1967 occupied areas of Jerusalem from the 1950 Absentees' Property Law under which most of their property would have been expropriated by the Israeli government just as Palestinian refugees from the western neighborhoods of Jerusalem had their property confiscated under this law after their expulsion in 1948.

The 1970 Law, however, explicitly noted that the exemption from the Absentees' Property Law was to apply only to the area of 1967 occupied Jerusalem. In other words, 1948 Palestinian refugees living in eastern Jerusalem who were also absent under the Absentee's Property Law with regard to their property in 1948, either in the western neighborhoods of Jerusalem or in other areas inside Israel, were not permitted to reclaim that property. The end result has been a law which permits Jews to reclaim their property in Jerusalem but bars Palestinians from reclaiming their property. When asked if Palestinians from the western neighborhoods of Jerusalem, like Baq'a, Talbiyeh, Katamon, etc. should be allowed to return to their homes, one of the new Jewish residents of Sheikh Jarrah responded, "This is the Jewish state, which was established as a home for the Jewish people, so that the Jews will come back to it." (Sources: Ha'aretz (26/4/99), Jerusalem 1948, see next for order information for the book.)