Israel is one of the few countries in the world where property prices have not been falling due to the global downturn. But a human rights group has discovered that more and more properties sold at auctions belong to Palestinian refugees who fled when Israel was created in 1948.
The sale of the properties is illegal under Israeli law and international law, the group said, as the ownership of the properties was transferred to the Custodian of Absentee Properties until a political solution is reached to the refugee issue.
The Adalah legal centre said that the Israel Lands Administration has carried out 80 auctions so far in 2009, 106 in 2008 and 96 in 2007.
'Selling these properties constitutes the final expropriation of the right to property of Palestinian refugees, despite the special legal, historical and political status of these properties,' said lawyer Suhad Bishara.
'The sale of Palestinian refugee properties also contradicts international humanitarian law, which stipulates the need to respect the right of private property and explicitly prohibits the final expropriation of private property following the termination of warfare,' she explained
'Israel is starting to sell these properties, to transfer the ownership rights to private owners, individuals or companies. By doing this they frustrate any potential attempts in the future to reclaim these properties by Palestinian refugees,' she added.
'Once the properties are out of the control of the state of Israel, the official responsible body for these properties, any claims that should be done toward the State of Israel will be impossible,' Bishara said.
Adalah sent a letter to various Israeli authorities last month demanding the cancellation of the invitations to bid on these properties. The Israeli human rights group also plans to appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court over the issue.
Some 760,000 Palestinians either fled or were driven out of their homes when the state of Israel was created in 1948 and today the refugees and their descendants are believed to number some 4.6 million people scattered across the Middle East and around the world.
