Indeed, the Ottoman Empire had its own version land theft. Using taxation and debt, the land just "happens" to fall into the hands of the state or the state's rich friends. There is nothing new here.This has long been a sore point for Palestinians and Israeli's.
The original law was an emergency measure, that was subsequently replaced by more sophisticated laws. A brief history of those laws, from Wikipedia: Israeli land and property laws - Wikipedia
āAbsenteesā propertyā laws were several laws which were first introduced as emergency ordinances issued by the Jewish leadership but which after the war were incorporated into the laws of Israel. As examples of the first type of laws are the Emergency Regulations (Absenteesā Property) Law, 5709-1948 (December) which according to article 37 of the Absentees Property Law, 5710-1950 was replaced by the latter;[25] the Emergency Regulations (Requisition of Property) Law, 5709-1949, and other related laws.[26]
According to COHRE and BADIL (p. 41), unlike other laws that were designed to establish Israelās legal control over lands, this body of law focused on formulating a legal definition for the people (mostly Arabs) who had left or been forced to flee from these lands.
....As a result, two million dunams were confiscated and given to the custodian, who later transferred the land to the development authority. This law created the novel citizenship category of "present absentees" (nifkadim nohahim), persons present at the time but considered absent for the purpose of the law. These Israeli Arabs enjoyed all civil rights-including the right to vote in the Knesset elections-except one: the right to use and dispose of their property. About 30,000-35,000 Palestinians became "present absentees".[27]
Wikipedia also notes:
The absentee property played an enormous role in making Israel a viable state. In 1954, more than one third of Israel's Jewish population lived on absentee property and nearly a third of the new immigrants (250,000 people) settled in urban areas abandoned by Arabs. Of 370 new Jewish settlements established between 1948 and 1953, 350 were on absentee property (Peretz, Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, 1958).
And it notes this about the one of the laws that replaced the emergency law:
The Absenteesā Property Law, 5710- 1950
This law replaced the Emergency Regulations (Absenteesā Property) Law, 5709-1948. According to Sabri Jiryis (p. 84),[32] the definition of "absentee" in the law was framed in such a way as to ensure that it applied to every Palestinian or resident in Palestine who had left his usual place of residence in Palestine for any place inside or outside the country after the adoption of the partition of Palestine resolution by the UN. Article 1(b) states that "absentee" means...
...According to COHRE and BADIL (p. 41), the provisions in the law made sure that the term 'person' did not apply to Jews. The law also applied to Arabs who had become citizens of the State of Israel but were not in their usual place of residence as defined by the law. In this case, they were referred to as 'present absentees' and many lost their lands.
It is very hard to make a claim that these laws were not for the purpose of trying to confiscate land from Palestinians, and give that land to Jewish residents, and to prevent them from being able to reclaim them, and that they were applied differently to Jews and to Arabs, that Jews could more easily reclaim their properties then Arabs.
Lest you think this is just old history, these laws are still in effect, and still in contention in the courts, this is from 2013.
Israel's Absentee Property Law exposes an absence of morality in Jerusalem
Few but the most liberal of Israelis take note of this irony ā Arab house equals charm and character ā and are willing to acknowledge the fuzzy moral territory of the Jerusalem we now find ourselves in today.
But 1948 is so long ago and peace so far away, and so we donāt like to think too hard about how these lovely āvintageā homes got here. Tuesday, on the other hand, thatās not so long ago at all. On Tuesday, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said in a legal opinion that a 63-year-old law allowing Israel to confiscate "absentee" properties may continue to be applied to Palestinian-owned homes in Jerusalem.
....āIf the Israeli high court, which is hearing a case involving the issue, will rule in favor of recognizing the absentee law, the consequences to Palestinians and their East Jerusalem properties will be enormous. The Israeli custodian of absentee properties has routinely turned over properties under its control to settler and settler-related projects,ā Kuttab writes. He also crystallizes why the law is so morally flawed. An Israeli who moves to a West Bank settlement will never be told that he has forfeited the apartment he owns in Jerusalem.
āThe irony of the Israeli discussion about absentee properties in Jerusalem is [that it is] applicable only to Palestinian Arabs,ā he adds. āThere is no similar application of this law to Israeli settlers living in the West Bank and owning properties in Jerusalem or Israel.ā
As Haaretz reported, this isnāt simply about leaving on the books a law that passed in 1950, when the Jewish stateā survival seemed less secure and Israelis feared droves of Palestinian refugees returning to claim the homes they left behind. Today, this is about Palestinians who live in the West Bank ā and sometimes, meters from their property in Jerusalem ā and had their homes confiscated because theyāre now āabsentees,ā ie. no longer Jerusalem residents. In other words, weāre not talking about the homes of Palestinians who are already spending a second or even third generation in Jordan or Lebanon or somewhere much further afield ā weāre talking about people who still live in the vicinity, under Israeli rule, but now find themselves on the wrong side of the line for maintaining their property.
āIf the Israeli high court, which is hearing a case involving the issue, will rule in favor of recognizing the absentee law, the consequences to Palestinians and their East Jerusalem properties will be enormous. The Israeli custodian of absentee properties has routinely turned over properties under its control to settler and settler-related projects,ā Kuttab writes. He also crystallizes why the law is so morally flawed. An Israeli who moves to a West Bank settlement will never be told that he has forfeited the apartment he owns in Jerusalem.
āThe irony of the Israeli discussion about absentee properties in Jerusalem is [that it is] applicable only to Palestinian Arabs,ā he adds. āThere is no similar application of this law to Israeli settlers living in the West Bank and owning properties in Jerusalem or Israel.ā
I think it's important to note for the purpose of this article - that Israel has been busy moving and adjusting the "boundaries" of Jerusalem in order to optimize Jewish demographics, which means if a Palestinian landowner is on the wrong side of the line suddenly, he loses whatever property he had on the other side.
And the High Court's Ruling? Supreme Court rules: Israel can confiscate Palestinian property in Jerusalem
hi Coyote; you might want to read this.
https://www.wordfromjerusalem.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/the-case-for-israel-appendix2.pdf
Greg
Just gives the lie to the idea that local ownership of land was widespread. lol
Greg