NORWEGIANREFUGEE COUNCIL

The Absentee Property Law and its
Implementation in East Jerusalem
A Legal Guide and Analysis
May 2013



May 2013

Written by: Adv. Yotam Ben-Hillel
Consulting legal advisor: Adv. Sami Ershied
Language editor: Risa Zoll
Hebrew-English translations: Al-Kilani Legal Translation, Training & Management
Co.

Cover photo: The Cliff Hotel, which was declared “absentee property”, and its owner
Ali Ayad. (Photo by: Mohammad Haddad, 2013).

This publication has been produced with the financial
assistance of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of
the authors and can under no circumstances be regarded asreflecting the position or the official opinion of theNorwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent, international humanitarian
non-governmental organisation that provides assistance, protection and durable solutions
to refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide.

The author wishes to thank Adv. Talia Sasson, Adv. Daniel Seidmann and Adv. Raphael
Shilhav for their insightful comments during the preparation of this study.
3


  

Table of Contents
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 8

2. Background on the Absentee Property Law .................................................. 9

3. Provisions of the Absentee Property Law .................................................... 14
3.1

Definitions ..................................................................................................................... 14

3.1.1

Who is an absentee? ................................................................................................ 14

3.1.2

What is absentee property? ..................................................................................... 17

3.1.3

Who is the Custodian of Absentee Property? ......................................................... 20

3.2

Transfer of absentee property to the Custodian and declaration of absentee
status ............................................................................................................................. 20

3.2.1

General .................................................................................................................... 20

3.2.2

Property status after vesting in the Custodian......................................................... 21

3.2.3

Declaration of a person or property as absentee ..................................................... 22

3.3

Property management and transactions .................................................................... 23

3.3.1

General .................................................................................................................... 23

3.3.2

Transactions conducted by the Custodian............................................................... 24

3.4

Release of absentee property ....................................................................................... 26

3.4.1

Custodian power to release vested property ........................................................... 26

3.4.2

Criteria for releasing the property ........................................................................... 27

3.4.3

Release of property under Article 27 of the Absentee Property Law ..................... 28

3.5

Compensation ............................................................................................................... 30

3.5.1

The Absentee Property (Compensation) Law of 1973 ........................................... 30

3.5.2

Article 18 of the Compensation Law – cancellation of the opportunity toapply for releasing absentee property ..................................................................... 31

3.6Interpretation of the Absentee Property Law in light of Basic Law: Human
Dignity and Liberty ..................................................................................................... 32
4

  

  

4. Utilization of the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem .................... 35
4.1

Application of the Law to East Jerusalem post-annexation ..................................... 35

4.1.1

The Law and Administration Procedures Law of 1970 .......................................... 35

4.1.2

Application of the 1970 Law to Israeli property in East Jerusalem ........................ 39

4.1.3

Of the absentees in East Jerusalem ......................................................................... 42

4.1.4
Cabinet resolutions in the matter of the Absentee Property Law's
application ............................................................................................................................. 43
4.2

Actual use of the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem .................................. 46

4.2.1

Settler takeover of properties with Custodian assistance ........................................ 46

4.2.2

Custodian involvement in transferring property rights ........................................... 56

4.2.3

Custodian involvement in licensing and planning procedures ............................... 58

4.2.4

Use of the Absentee Property Law in the course of construction of the Wallin the West Bank .................................................................................................... 61

4.3

The legality of applying the Absentee Property Law to Palestinian residentsof the West Bank who own possessions in East Jerusalem ...................................... 65

4.3.1

The position of Israel’s Cabinets and Attorneys General ....................................... 65

4.3.2

The position of Israel’s courts................................................................................. 66

5. International Law Perspective ...................................................................... 74
5.1

The Annexation of East Jerusalem ............................................................................. 74

5.2

The use of Absentee Property Law under the law of occupation ............................ 75

5.2.1

International humanitarian law and its application to the occupied
Palestinian territory ................................................................................................ 75

5.2.2

Annexation and occupation..................................................................................... 78

5.2.3

The right to property under the laws of occupation ................................................ 79

5.2.4

Absentee property under the laws of occupation .................................................... 82

5.2.5

Applying the Absentee Property Law to property in East Jerusalem ..................... 83

5.3

The use of Absentee Property Law under human rights law................................... 85

5.3.1

International human rights law and its application to the occupied
Palestinian territory ................................................................................................ 85
5

  

  

5.3.2

The right to property under international human rights law ................................... 87

5.3.3

The application of the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem in light ofinternational human rights law ............................................................................... 88

6. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 90
6.1
The problematic application of the Absentee Property Law to East
Jerusalem ................................................................................................................................. 90
6.2

The role of the Israeli courts ....................................................................................... 90

6.3

The usage of the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem – the broader
context ........................................................................................................................... 916
  Green Line
Old City
Municipal Boundary
Barrier- Completed
Route of the Barrier- Planned
Checkpoint/ Terminal
Palestinian Built-up Area
Israeli Built-up area Beyond the Green Line
Industrial ParkE-1 Master Plan

  

1.

Introduction

The Absentee Property Law (APL) has been applied to East Jerusalem since its
annexation to Israel in 1967. This law has significant ramifications for the issue of
property ownership in East Jerusalem. In addition to infringing property rights for those
whose property was vested in the Israeli authorities, it has many other negative
implications. As this paper describes in detail, the application of the APL in East
Jerusalem affects many transactions involving transfer of property rights in East
Jerusalem, and imposes severe limitations on the residents of East Jerusalem seeking toobtain building permits and initiate planning processes. Moreover, the APL has been usedover the years as a central means by which Palestinian-owned property in East Jerusalem
is transferred to settler organisations.
The APL was enacted in the wake of the 1948 War to facilitate the transfer of property ofPalestinian refugees to the Israeli authorities. The provisions of the APL were drafted in a
sweeping manner, and set forth broad definitions regarding who is considered “absentee”
and what is considered “absentee property”. The APL also granted many powers to theCustodian of Absentee Property, including wide discretion in the question of whether torelease absentee property, while the rights of the absentees themselves were extremely
limited. In order to understand the APL's extensive reach, we will begin by describing thebackground of the legislative process and the purposes underlying its enactment. We willthen detail the APL’s main provisions. Following this, we will examine the application of
the APL to East Jerusalem and elaborate on the actual implementation method in theannexed territory. We will explore the changes in Israeli policies regarding
implementation of the APL in East Jerusalem and focus on the role of the Israeli courts.
We will show that, to date, the conservative approach adopted by the Israeli courts has
assisted in facilitating the various APL enforcement mechanisms in East Jerusalem.
We will dedicate a separate chapter to the issue of applying the APL to Palestinians who
reside in the West Bank and hold property in East Jerusalem. A chapter presenting theissue from the perspective of international law will conclude our analysis.

8
  

  

2.

Background on the Absentee Property Law

The Absentee Property Law1 is the main law in a series of statutes that regulate thetreatment of property belonging to Palestinians who left, fled or were deported during the1948 War.2 The Palestinian refugees during this period left behind a great deal of land.
Estimations of the extent of this land vary dramatically, but it is clear that Palestinians
lost several millions of dunams3 that were transferred to the State of Israel.4
As described in detail in this document, following the enactment of the APL, theownership rights in the Palestinian property described above automatically vested in a
special Israeli entity referred to as the Custodian of Absentee Property, who was grantedvery broad powers, while those defined as “absentees” by the APL lost ownership rights,
as well as all other rights in the property. It was clear to the legislature that a law of thiskind would have far-reaching consequences, both politically as well as in terms ofownership. Nevertheless, and although the provisions of the APL were sweeping inscope, as detailed below, no bill (draft law) for this Law was ever published and theKnesset (the Israeli Parliament) never provided any explanatory statement thereof.5
In the absence of draft law, the discussion in the Knesset’s plenum preceding theenactment of the APL can shed some light on the purposes of the APL. By way of
example, MK Joseph Lam (MAPAI – Israel’s Workers Party) explained that “this Law
intends to preserve the property of the absentees for purposes to be determined by the
Knesset. I do not want to discuss here the question whether this is for the absentees'
benefit or not, but the basis of the law is undoubtedly to retain the absentees'
property…”6 Moreover, MK David-Tsvi Pinkas, chairman of the Finance Committee,
1

The Absentee Property Law 5710-1950, Laws of the State of Israel No. 37, 20 March 1950, p. 86(hereinafter: “the Absentee Property Law” or “the APL”).
2  According to various estimates, from December 1947 through September 1949, between six hundred
thousand and seven hundred and sixty thousand Palestinians left, fled or were deported from the area inwhich the State of Israel was established. The estimates of the number of Palestinian refugees and of those
who remained in Israel vary. See: Alexandre (Sandy) Kedar, “On the Legal Geography of Ethnocratic
Settler States: Notes towards Research Agenda”, Law and Geography: Current Legal Issues, Vol. 5, 401, p.
421.
For details on the abovementioned legislation, see: Geremy Forman and Alexandre (Sandy) Kedar, “FromArab land to ‘Israel Lands’: the legal dispossession of the Palestinians displaced by Israel in the wake of1948”, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 2004, Vol. 22, 809; Gail Boling, “Absentees'
Property Laws and Israel's Confiscation of Palestinian Property: A Violation of U.N General Assembly
Resolution 194 and International Law”, The Palestine Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 11 2000/2001,
73, pp. 83-112.
3
A dunam is equal to 0.1 hectares.
4
Israeli officials and researchers have estimated between 4.2 million and 6.5 million dunams; however,much higher estimates exist. See: Forman and Kedar, “From Arab land to ‘Israel Lands’”, supra note 2, p.
812.
5
Typically, the process of Knesset legislation goes through a number of steps. One of the initial stages isthe publication of the proposed bill – which includes an explanation of the purposes of the bill – before thebill is presented to the Knesset.
6
Divrey HaKnesset vol. 4, booklets 11-20 (second term), p. 952.

9
  

  

who presented the APL to the Knesset’s plenum, stated: “I would like to emphasize that
there are no grounds to claim that the State intends to take the property as compensationin the future under this Law. This claim is incorrect. The Law establishes that theabsentees' property is to be transferred to and retained by the Custodian of Absentee
Property7 for retention…”8
Despite these statements, it was obvious from the very beginning that retaining absentee
property was not the main purpose behind the legislation. In the plenary discussion, MK
David-Tsvi Pinkas added:
On the other hand, this Law has to ensure that proper use of this property is made toprevent it becoming dead property. Not only that, the Law must ensure that thisproperty is used as leverage and a basis for the development of the economy and of
the State, and for this reason, we should have enabled the transfer of the property
from the Custodian to other, new, owners, who will replace him and take care of thisproperty for the benefit of the entire country.9
In fact, reading of the APL suggests that the legislature's intent was to give the State thepossibility of utilizing absentee property for its various needs. Article 19 of the APL,
entitled “Limitation of powers of Custodian”, establishes that the Custodian is not
permitted to sell property or otherwise transfer its ownership, but “if a Development
Authority is established under a law of the Knesset, it shall be lawful for the Custodian tosell the property”.10 Although the APL uses the wording “if a Development Authority isestablished,” at the time the APL was discussed in the Knesset, a draft law concerning theDevelopment Authority had already been proposed. Therefore, it should have been clear
to the legislators that the provisions of the APL would almost immediately legalize thetransfer of property to the Development Authority.11
And indeed, under Article 19 of the APL, most absentee property was subsequently
vested in the Development Authority.12 The Development Authority is a public body thatwas established under the Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law 5710-1950(Development Authority Law). Even at the draft law stage, it was established that theDevelopment Authority would be granted powers that are “as broad and ascomprehensive as possible”.13 Accordingly, the list of powers in Article 3 of theDevelopment Authority Law is broad and enables almost any possible action. Inter alia,
Article 3(3) of the Development Authority Law provides that the Development Authority
7

For elaboration on the Custodian and his powers – see below.
Divrey HaKnesset, supra note 6, p. 984.
9
Ibid., pp. 869-870.
10
The Absentee Property Law, supra note 1, Article 19(a).
11Moti Banyan, Land Law: The Principles and Rules, 2nd edition, Tel-Aviv, 2004, pp. 819-820 [Hebrew].
For further elaboration on the APL and the Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law as a twostatute model see Forman and Kedar, “From Arab land to ‘Israel Lands’”, supra note 2, pp. 816-819.
12
Banyan, Land Law: The Principles and Rules, supra note 11, pp. 819-820.
13
Draft law: Transfer of Property to the Development Authority, 5710-1949, published in Draft Law 25, 8
December 1949.
8

10
  

  

may “develop, complete, ameliorate, merge, cultivate and reclaim property”.14 Article
3(4)(a) of the Development Authority Law, in its initial wording, decreed that theDevelopment Authority “shall not be authorized to sell, or otherwise transfer the right ofownership of, property passing into public ownership, except to the State, to the Jewish
National Fund15, to an institution approved by the Government, for the purposes of thisparagraph, as an institution for the settlement of landless Arabs, or to a local authority”.16
This article was later amended and declared that the Development Authority “shall not be
authorized to sell the Lands of Israel… that are not municipality lands and whose area
exceeds 100,000 dunams, or otherwise transfer the right of ownership of, rent or lease
them, except with the consent of the Israel Land Council”.17
The Development Authority Law initially imposed some limitations on the institutions towhich rights could be transferred for property that was vested in the Development
Authority.18 However, the wording of the Development Authority Law following its
amendment left sufficient leeway to facilitate the transfer of absentee property from theDevelopment Authority to individuals and various groups. As set forth in this report, in
East Jerusalem, for example, absentee property found its way to settler organizations via
the Development Authority.19 In this and many other cases, the Development Authority
served as a “land laundering” agency which aimed to distance the government fromdirect involvement in the process of acquiring rights in absentee property and transferring
them to Jewish individuals or political groups.20
In rulings from the first few years following enactment of the APL, the Israeli Supreme
Court, in interpreting the provisions of the APL, chose to focus on the purpose of the
APL to retain and manage absentee property.21 However, in subsequent years, the Israeli
Supreme Court also acknowledged other purposes underlying the legislation. In a rulingissued by the Israeli High Court of Justice from 1994, we find the following:
Case law has long acknowledged that preserving absentee property is a fundamental
purpose of the Law… but I am unable to accept that this is the sole – or even the main
14

The Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law, 5710-1950, Laws of the State of Israel , No. 57,
9 August 1950 p. 278, Article 3(3).
15Established in the early 20th century, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) served as the main arm of theZionist movement in acquisition of land in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel.
Thereafter, in addition to its function as the guardian of “Jewish national land”, the JNF have performed
certain state functions, such as land reclamation and development (see: David Kretzmer, The Legal Statusof the Arabs in Israel, Westview Press, 1990, p. 49).
16
The Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law, supra note 14, Article 3(4)(a).
17
The Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law, amendment No. 1, Laws of the State of Israel,
No. 312, 29 July 1960, p. 58, Article 3(4).
18Concerning details regarding the transfer of absentee property to various parties through theDevelopment Authority see also: Sabri Jiryis, “the Legal Structure for the Expropriation and Absorption of
Arab Lands in Israel”, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 2, No. 4, 82, pp. 88-89.
19
See chapter 4.2.1 below.
20
See more on this issue: Yifat Holzman-Gazit, Land Expropriation in Israel: Law, Culture and Society,2007, p.110.
21
See for example: HCJ 6/50 Froind v. Supervisor of Absentee Property, Jerusalem, (1950) 4 PD 333, p.
337; Civil Appeal 58/54 Mahmud Habab v. Custodian of Absentee Property, (1956) 10 PD 912, p. 918.

11
  

  

– purpose of the Law and that it has no (or hardly any) other purpose. In general, it ispossible to say that the Law is designed to actualize the State's interests in thisproperty at least as much as it is designed to preserve the property for its absentee
owners and protecting their interests therein: the ability to utilize it for the benefit of
the country, while preventing the exploitation of the property by someone who isabsent according to the meaning of this term in the Law, and the ability to hold onto
the property (or its monetary value) until the formulation of political arrangements
between Israel and its neighbours that will determine the fate of this property on thebasis of reciprocity between the countries.22
Absentee Property as Enemy Property
The APL is not an original Israeli concept. The APL (and, in fact, the Absentee Property
Regulations that preceded it) was modelled on the British Trading with the Enemy Act of1939. A similar ordinance was enacted by the British government in Palestine.23 This
Ordinance includes special provisions dealing with the issue of property located inPalestine which belong to the enemy and its citizens. These provisions are based on theconcept that the country’s wealth, which may be used for its war effort, includes not only
the property situated in its territory, but also its property and that of its citizens locatedabroad. Therefore, in order to prevent the enemy from using its property, the Ordinancevests the property in the Custodian.24
According to the Ordinance, the State may appoint a Custodian in order to preserve theenemy property that fell into its hands during an armed conflict “in contemplation ofarrangement to be made at the conclusion of peace”.25 Thus, it may seem that the purposeof appointment of a custodian for these properties was not to permanently seize them, but
to hold them in escrow until the end of hostilities.26 However, according to anotherinterpretation, once the property is vested in the Custodian, the original owners no longer
possess the legal right to the return of the property, and they hold nothing more than the
expectation of return of their property when peace is concluded.27
In any case, observing the way in which Israel has dealt with absentee property supports
the conclusion that the Israeli adoption of the enemy property model was more in form
than in substance. Notwithstanding statements made by Israeli officials – according towhom the main purpose of the APL was consolidation and safeguarding of absentee
property – it was evident from the start that the usage of the enemy property doctrine
22

HCJ 4713/93 Golan v. Special committee under Article 29 of the Absentee Property Law 5710-1950,(1994) 48(2) PD 638, p. 644.
23
Trading with the Enemy Ordinance (Palestine), No. 36 of 1939.
24
Eyal Benvenisti, Eyal Zamir, “Private Claims to Property Rights in the Future Israeli-Palestinian
Settlement”, The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 89, No. 2 (April, 1995), 295, p. 302.
25
Trading with the Enemy Ordinance (Palestine), Supra note 23, Article 9(1).
26Michael Kagan, “Restitution as a remedy for refugee property claims in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”,
19 Fla. J. Int’l L. 421, p. 451 (August, 2007).
27
Benvenisti and Zamir, “Private Claims to Property Rights in the Future Israeli-Palestinian Settlement”,
supra note 24, p. 303.

12
  

  

aimed to covertly facilitate the permanent transfer of Palestinian absentee property to thehands of Jewish Israelis. There was no real intention to safeguard this property for the
benefit of its original owners. The enactment of the Development Authority Law
immediately following the enactment of the APL and the way the Development Authority
functioned, as discussed earlier, illustrate this assumption.28 Another example is the
Israeli treatment of property belonging to internally displaced Palestinians, who departed
for a short time during the 1948 War to locations in Palestine that were held at that timeby forces fighting against Israel, and who returned to their home shortly afterwards andbecame residents and citizens of Israel. The enemy property rationale cannot acceptably
explain the continuing application of the APL to these “absentees”.29 When the enemy
armies of the countries that fought against Israel lost control of the territories in whichthese internally displaced Palestinians were residing, and these places fell under Israeli
control, the continued holding of property belonging to these Palestinians by the State ofIsrael cannot be justified.30

28

For more on this issue see: “From Arab land to ‘Israel Lands’”, supra note 2, pp. 816-819.
See: Benvenisti and Zamir, “Private Claims to Property Rights in the Future Israeli-Palestinian
Settlement”, supra note 24, pp. 300-301.
30
Kagan, “Restitution as a remedy for refugee property claims in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”, supranote 26, p. 454.
29

13
  

  

3.

Provisions of the Absentee Property Law

3.1

Definitions

3.1.1

Who is an absentee?

Article 1(b)1 of the Law decrees that “absentee” means:(1) a person who, at any time during the period between the 16th Kislev, 5708 (29November 1947) and the day on which a declaration is published, under Article 9(d)of the Law and Administration Ordinance, 5708-1948(1), that the state of emergency
declared by the Provisional Council of State on the 10th Iyar, 5708 (19 May 1948)(2)
has ceased to exist, was a legal owner of any property situated in the area of Israel orenjoyed or held it, whether by himself or through another, and who, at any time
during the said period (i) was a citizen or subject of Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Trans-Jordan,
Iraq or the Yemen, or(ii) was in one of these countries or in any part of Palestine31 outside the area ofIsrael, or(iii) was a Palestinian citizen and left his ordinary place of residence in Palestine(a) for a place outside Palestine before the 27th Av, 5708 (1 September 1948);or(b) for a place in Palestine held at the time by forces which sought to preventthe establishment of the State of Israel or which fought against it after its
establishment;
Article 1(9) of the APL decrees that “‘area of Israel’ means the area in which the law of
the State of Israel applies’”.
The APL defines three types of people as absentees:Absentees by virtue of citizenship or as subject of country’s authority: any
person who is/was a citizen or subject of the countries specified in the Article32 at

31

The Hebrew version of the APL uses the term “Eretz Israel” (the Land of Israel) which refers, at least in
this context, to the territory that became the State of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the 1948
War.
32
Concerning the state of Jordan, Article 6 of the Law on the Implementation of the Peace Agreement
between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 5755-1995, Laws of the State of Israel No. 1503, 10
February 1995, p. 110 (Hereinafter: “Law on the Implementation of the Peace Agreement between Israel
and Jordan”) stipulates that as of 10 November 1994, a property shall not be considered an “absentee
property” only because the holder of the rights thereto was a citizen or a subject of Jordan, or was found in
Jordan. It is emphasized that this Article is for future cases only and cannot change the status of absentee
property that was previously declared as such. Also, it should be mentioned that there is no similar

14
  

  

any time within the period between 29 November 1947 and the day on which it
shall be declared that the state of emergency declared by the provisional State
council on 19 May 1948 shall cease to exist33 (the effective period).
Absentees by virtue of presence in an enemy country: anyone located at any
time during the effective period in an enemy country or in any part of Palestineoutside of the area of the State of Israel.



Absentees by virtue of departure from the ordinary place of residence inPalestine: anyone who is/was a resident of Palestine who departed, between 29
November 1947 and 1 September 1948 from his ordinary place of residence inPalestine to a place outside of Palestine, or anyone who is/was a Palestinian
resident who departed to a place in Palestine that was held at that time by forcesthat sought to prevent the establishment of the State of Israel, or who fought
against it after its establishment.

The definition of “absentee” according to this Law is therefore very broad. Thisdefinition encompasses, inter alia, anyone visiting any of the countries listed in the APL
commencing from 29 November 1947; any person who had received status in thosecountries during the relevant period; and even anyone who merely departed for a shorttime from his or her ordinary place of residence in Palestine to another place in Palestinethat was held at that time by anyone fighting against Israel and who returned to his or herhome shortly afterwards. A well-known issue in this context is the problem of “present
absentees”. Property belonging to people who departed to a place and consequently
became absentees, and then returned after a short while to Israel and even became Israeli
citizens was still considered absentee property vested in the Custodian.34
The broad nature of the definition can lead to absurd situations, and can include people
that the legislature probably did not intend to define as absentees. For example, thedefinition could include Israeli army soldiers who served in various parts of Palestine in
1948, or soldiers who took part in other wars, or served in South Lebanon as part of theIsraeli occupation. This definition also includes Israeli settlers who moved to and haveresided in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt) following the 1967 War. They too, by
this definition, are absent in relation to property they own within Israel.35 Indeed, theAPL does apply, at least by its wording, to both non-Jews and Jews. It is apparent fromthe case law that the APL was applied, in a few cases, to property of Jews who fell withinprovision that excludes any property that became “absentee property” after the signing of the peaceagreement with Egypt from the applicability of the Article.
33
It should be noted that the state of emergency has not ceased to exist even as of the date of this paper.
34
In this matter, see for example what MK Amin Jarjura (the democratic party of Nazareth) said during
discussions at the Knesset prior to the ratification of the APL (Divrey HaKnesset, supra note 6, p. 870);
Boling, “Absentees' Property Laws and Israel's Confiscation of Palestinian Property”, supra note 2, p. 94.
35
More on the inclusive nature of the definition of “absentee” by this Law see sections 55-61 of the Appeal
Notice in Civil Appeal 5931/06 Hussein v. Cohen, submitted on July 13th 2006. Concerning this appeal andadditional appeals dealing with the question of application of the APL in East Jerusalem – see chapter 4.3.2
below.

15    the definition of absentees.36 However, it is clear, considering the definition of “absentee”
by the APL, that most of those who come within its net are Palestinians who own
property within the territory of Israel. Considering the purposes of the APL and thehistorical context in which it was enacted, it is obvious that there was no real intention of
applying it to Jewish property.
However, the Custodian – according to his own statements – does not apply the definitionof “absentee” in the APL in a strict manner, even for Palestinians. The Custodian
maintains that Palestinians who are citizens of Israel, make a pilgrimage to Mecca, andreturn afterwards to Israeli territory are not considered absentees. The same is true forPalestinians who are citizens of Israel who travel in the West Bank or even settle there –they are not considered absentees as long as they remain citizens of the State or residents
thereof.37
The courts have also deemed appropriate, in certain cases, adopting a narrowinterpretation of the definition of “absentee” under the APL. In a case heard in the
Jerusalem District Court, the Court addressed the definition of “absentee” in Article
1(b)(1)(II) and ruled that:
There is no justification to interpret the words 'was in' that appear in the Article as
including a clearly temporary sojourn in an enemy country, which is technical andtransient and is done only for the passage into other countries. In this matter as well,weight is given to the interpretive principle according to which it is necessary tointerpret the provisions of the Law so as to narrow its scope as much as possible inorder to reduce any impingement on the constitutional right to property. Thisconclusion is in line with the purpose of the Absentee Property Law, which does notjustify its application to a sojourn of the type under discussion in one of the enemy
countries.38
Nonetheless, it seems that time spent in an enemy country, which is not considered to be
temporary, shall still be considered as absence, even if it is not continuous.39
The same is true regarding the definition of absentee by virtue of citizenship or as subjectof country’s authority. It is possible that a person will possess citizenship status in morethan one country. In these cases, citizenship in an enemy country, which makes that
person an “absentee” under the APL, may not necessarily be his or her effective
36

Regarding this matter, see, for example, Civil Appeal 4682/92 Estate of the late Salim Ezra Sha'ya v. Bet
Taltash LTD, (2000) 54(5) PD 252, p. 280.
37
See the Custodian’s stance, as submitted to the Supreme Court within the framework of Civil Appeal
2250/06 The Custodian of Absentee Property v. Daqaq Nuha, on 26 January 2010, sections 33-34.
Concerning these appeals dealing with the question of application of the APL in East Jerusalem – seechapter 4.3.2 below.
38
Civil Case (Jerusalem District Court) 2514/08 Awad v. Custodian of Absentee Property (published in“Nevo”, 8 April 2010), section 27 in the ruling. Also in this matter: Various Civil Requests (Nazareth
District Court) 2225/06 Khoury-Bshara v. Sliman, Tak-Mech 2006(4), 12256.
39
Civil Appeal 844/04 Bahus v. Development Authority (published in “Nevo”, 9 March 2006), section 5 of
the ruling.

16
  

  

citizenship. The Jerusalem District Court ruled that in this context it is appropriate “todistinguish the term 'citizen' in the definition of 'absentee' under international law,according to which a person who holds dual or even triple citizenship is deemed a citizenof the country wherein the centre of his life is situated, and it is his effective, active,
actual and obvious citizenship”.40
3.1.2 What is absentee property?
Article 1(e) of the APL decrees what constitutes “absentee property”: “Absentee
property” means property the legal owner of which, at any time during the period
between the 16th Kislev, 5708 (29 November 1947) and the day on which a declaration is
published… that the state of emergency… has ceased to exist, was an absentee, or which,at any time as aforesaid, an absentee held or enjoyed, whether by himself or throughanother…”
Therefore, the APL decrees that if that person is an absentee, then any property that he or
she owns, or has a right to, in Israel is absentee property as well. The existence ofproperty in Israel is the key in determining that a person is an absentee. The Custodian
may not declare a person as an “absentee” if the requirement that they own property
within Israeli territory is not met.
In this context, it is instructive to mention a case that came before the Nazareth District
Court. The case involved a person who resided and held property in Israel. Following
said landholder’s death in 1978, his heirs submitted an application for a succession order.
One of the heirs (a son) had left for Jordan in 1956, received Jordanian citizenship, andstayed there for a number of years. The son received American citizenship in 1969, andmoved to the United States. The application for the succession order was accompanied bya deposition by that son, affirming that he would waive his part of the estate in favour of
his five brothers. The Custodian requested to amend the succession order to vest the son's
share in the Custodian. The District Court interpreted the words “was a legal owner ofany property” in Article 1(b)(1) in the APL in a manner that simultaneously requires
ownership of the property and fulfilment of one of the three alternative conditions
appearing in the Article. Since on the day the father died in 1978, his son was no longer acitizen of Jordan but a citizen of the United States and no longer residing in Jordan, it wasdetermined that the APL should not apply to him and no shares would vest in the
Custodian.41
Article 1(a) in the APL sets forth what is considered “property” under the Law. Similarly
to the definition of “absentee”, this definition is also extremely broad and includes“immovable and movable property, money, a vested or contingent right in property,
40

Civil Case (Jerusalem District Court) 4030/02 Halim v. Custodian of Absentee Property (published in“Nevo”, 13 April 2008), section 17 in the ruling. This argument was also made in HCJ 518/79 Cockran v.
Committee under Article 29 in the Absentee Property Law, 5710-1950, (1980) 34 (2) PD 326, but the High
Court of Justice did not rule on that particular argument.
41
Civil Case (Nazareth District Court) 187/78 Custodian of Absentee Property v. Tawfiq Muhammad
Shalabi, (1980) 5741 (2) PM 241, p. 248.

17
  

  

goodwill and any right in an entity of persons or in its management.” As to the expression“a vested or contingent right in property”42 Israeli case law determined that it includes,inter alia:
Right of payment of a debt for the benefit of the absentee;43

An obligatory right to receive real property: thus, for example, it wasdetermined that a future right to receive real property, regarding which a transfer
agreement was signed while the recipient of the right was an absentee, constituted
absentee property;44Right of possession protected by a statute of limitations claim: when an
individual has acquired a right of possession in real property and the limitation
period has passed (that is, at the end of the limitation period, the possession isconsidered to be possession by law) and that person becomes an absentee – thereal property shall be considered absentee property;45



Stocks (including bearer stocks): according to a Supreme Court ruling, a stock
constitutes a “contingent right”, that is, one that entitles its owner title to an
intangible asset, and is therefore considered “property” according to the APL. A
bearer stock entitles its possessor at any given time to all the rights entailed insaid stock document. Such stocks can change hands in a manner similar to abanknote. According to the Supreme Court, since bearer stocks are a negotiable
document, they constitute “property” under the APL definition, since it is a“vested right”, that is, one that entitles the bearer title in a tangible asset. In

42

In Motion (Appeal) 89/51 Mituba LTD v. Kazem, (1952) 6 PD 4 it was determined, in page 8 of thejudgment, that ““vested right” means property that has already been in the person's possession and which
he holds; “contingent” means: property that a person has an expectation of or a right to (and the opinion ofsome that: property in which he has a right as well)”.
43
Ibid.
44
The ruling that addressed this question concerned a case in which a couple, citizens of Israel andresidents of the village Yafi, transferred property from their ownership to two of their sons, who were notabsentees. The couple made the sons sign a deposition in 1958, whereby one third of the property would betransferred in the future to a third brother, upon his request. That third brother had lived in Jordan since1948. The District Court ruled that the property was given to the two brothers in escrow for the third
brother. The right of the third brother in the property was created only with the transfer of the possession of
the property, not on the day when the escrow was created, since the right of the benefactor is “an obligatory
future right”. The third brother demanded his right in the real property in the spring of 1995, after the Law
for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement with Jordan came into effect (see supra note 32) andtherefore, the property in question was not absentee property. The Supreme Court accepted the appeal
submitted by the Custodian on the District Court judgment and ruled that the agreement drawn-up by theparents with their children falls into the definition of a “contingent right” in the property, which wasconsolidated already in 1958. The real property promised to the third brother constitutes, therefore,
property, and since that brother constitutes an “absentee” under the APL, the property is absentee property(Civil Appeal 4630/02 Custodian of Absentee Property v. Abu Hatum (published in “Nevo”, 18 September2007).
45
Civil Appeal 324/56 Levi v. Custodian of Absentee Property, (1958) 12 PD 1446, p. 1449.

18
  

  

addition, since it is a “stock” it constitutes a “contingent right”, as explained
above.46
Non-contractual rights and any right that is enforceable through claim: thecase law established that the term “contingent right” in the context of absentee
property includes rights of this kind, although their scope was not mentioned.47

Lease and protected lease: this issue was considered in a ruling issued by the
Jerusalem District Court, which ruled that rights of this kind shall be consideredabsentee property under the APL.48

A Note on inheritance rights
It follows from the above that rights passing by way of inheritance may be considered“absentee property”. However, some clarifications need to be made. According to Israeli
Supreme Court case law, the definition “a vested or contingent right in property” does notinclude property for which there is only a non-binding expectation of receipt. In the46

In a judgment dealing with this matter, a question arose whether stocks of an Israeli company constitute“property within the territory of Israel” (and therefore are considered “absentee property” as defined by theAPL) since they were in the possession of a person claimed to be an absentee while he was residing in
Egypt. It was determined that since the APL aspires to concentrate all property in the country held bypeople who were in enemy countries during the relevant period in the hands of the Custodian, it isappropriate to interpret the definition, in light of this stated purpose, in a manner that gives the Custodian
control of Israeli companies to the extent the holders of these bearer stocks are entitled. The Court reviewed
the issue in both the Israeli and international context and ruled that bearer stocks are considered “property
within the territory of Israel” and therefore do constitute “absentee property” (Civil Appeal 5634/90 Pinto
v. Custodian of Absentee Property, (1993) 47(4) PD 846, pp. 853-856).
47
Civil Appeal 5685/94 Elad Association v. Estate of the Late Al-Abbasi, (1999) 53(4) PD 730, p. 743;
Civil Appeal 9575/02 Custodian of Absentee Property v. Usmat Baha'i (Azal) (published in “Nevo”, 7 July2010) (paragraph 7 of the judgment).
48
Civil Case (Jerusalem District Court) 1140/96 Fu'ad Munib Kalbuni v. Arab Land Bank (published in“Nevo”, 19 November 1997). The plaintiffs in that case were the estate of the owner of a house in East
Jerusalem and the heirs, who requested declaratory relief establishing that the house is not consideredabsentee property. The plaintiffs themselves were not absentees, but the property was leased, apparently
under a protected lease, until the outbreak of the 1967 War, to the Arab Land Bank. The Bank abandoned
the property upon the outbreak of the war and ceased to possess it. Several months after the war, theproperty was declared absentee property. The Court ruled that:
It appears to me that the right of a protected tenant that became an absentee should be defended. Why
should he lose his title on the day when Israel and the Arab countries reach an agreement, and in what
way should his share be reduced compared to a tenant that is not protected, and why should he lose his
title to key money? For this reason, it should be acknowledged that protected tenancy has a proprietary
aspect and consequently, Defendant No.2 [the Custodian of Absentee Property] came “wearing theshoes” of Defendant No. 1 [the Arab Land Bank] (paragraph 10 of the ruling).
On the grounds of protecting the rights of a protected tenant (who was, in this case, a bank…) the Court
sided with the approach of the Custodian, who claimed that it is necessary to hand over property to him, theowner of which was not actually absent. Concerning an unprotected lease – a right which is personal andnon-transferable – the Court ruled that this right is a “vested right”, which also falls under the definition of“absentee property” (paragraph 10 of the ruling).

19
  

  

context of inheritance rights, the Court ruled that an expectation to inherit properties
when the property holder is still alive is a distant expectation which is not considered a“vested right”.49
What about the heirs, qualifying as “absentees” on the day their father passed away, whoat the time of his death held no property in Israel, since the part in their father's estate thatthey were slated to inherit was transferred to the Custodian? This question was discussed
in the matter of Baha'i (Azal).50 In that case, the father went from Israel to Lebanon in
January 1948, and, with the permission of the government, returned to Israel in June
1949. He was declared absentee in October, 1950, and passed away approximately one
week later. The Custodian decided in 1954 to release part of the late father's property,
under Article 28 of the APL.51 The part of the inheritance that was not released belonged
to the son and daughter of the deceased, who were in Lebanon at the time. The son anddaughter later passed away while still in Lebanon. The Supreme Court determined thatthe son and daughter did not acquire the property at all, only the “chance” that if theestate property was released in the future, they would receive it. It was determined that
this “chance”, whose materialization was not certain, is not considered “property” that istransferred to the Custodian. Consequently, when the son and daughter passed away, theirinheritance rights passed to their other relatives, without the Custodian seizing them on
the way.
3.1.3

Who is the Custodian of Absentee Property?

The APL establishes that the Finance Minister will appoint a custodianship committee forabsentee property and will appoint one of its members as the committee chairman. The
committee chairman is the Custodian of Absentee Property (the Custodian). The
Custodian may submit a claim and initiate legal action against any person, and be aplaintiff, defendant or contestant in any legal action. In any legal action, the Custodian isentitled to representation by the Attorney General of Israel, or the Attorney General’sattorney.52
3.2

Transfer of absentee property to the Custodian and declaration of absentee
status3.2.1

General

Article 4(a) in the APL, entitled “Vesting of absentee property in the Custodian”
provides:(1) All absentee property is hereby vested in the Custodian as from the day of
publication of his appointment or the day on which it became absentee property,
whichever is the later date;
49

The matter of Elad, supra note 47, p. 743; the matter of Mituba, supra note 42, p. 15.
See the matter of Baha'i (Azal), supra note 47.
51
In regard to releasing absentee property, see chapter 3.4 below.
52
The Absentee Property Law, supra note 1, Article 2.
50

20
  

  

(2) Every right an absentee had in any property shall pass automatically to theCustodian at the time of the vesting of the property; and the status of the Custodianshall be the same as was that of the owner of the property.
Case law has determined that absentee property is automatically vested in the Custodian
when the conditions of the APL are fulfilled, and it is not contingent on any legal action
on the part of the Custodian or registration of the property in his or her name.53 There is
no provision in the APL that obliges the Custodian to register the absentee property inorder to complete the transfer and it does not depend on the Custodian’s knowledge, orlack thereof, about the absentee property.
Albeck and Fleischer write in their book:
The moment the property becomes absentee property (or, if it was before theappointment of the Custodian, then from the moment the Custodian is appointed) the
property is vested in the Custodian and the right of ownership has been vested in him.
Ownership is transferred without any application to the Land Registrar, and in general
without his knowledge and it is transferred automatically without any order or action
on the part of the Custodian, the absentee, or any authority whatsoever, but only byreason of the property becoming a property that belongs to an absentee.54
The Supreme Court decided to ascribe the reason for this automatic transfer to thecircumstances surrounding the APL’s enactment. According to the Supreme Court, it was
impossible to expect, when the APL was legislated in 1950, that absentee property would
be immediately registered in the Land Registry in an orderly fashion. The Supreme
Court expressed its regret that many years later the registration was still incomplete, but
decreed that in the circumstances of the early years of the State's existence, there was noway, apparently, to determine that an absentee property would only be property that was
registered as such.55
3.2.2

Property status after vesting in the Custodian

After the vesting of the absentee property in the Custodian, all ownership rights are heldby the Custodian and the absentee loses his ownership rights or any other right in theproperty. However, the property's vesting in the Custodian does not completely cancel
the absentee's interest in the property. In this matter, the Supreme Court ruled that: “wetend to think that the absentee is not totally dispossessed because of the mere fact that heis an absentee, but rather that the rights are passed or vested in the Custodian”.56
Because of this view, the absentee is seen as retaining the possibility that the Custodian
may release the property in the future (under the provision of Article 28 of the APL – see
53

The matter of Golan, supra note 22, p. 645.
Plia Albeck and Ron Fleischer, Land Law in Israel, self-published, Jerusalem, 2005, p. 97 [Hebrew].
55
Civil Appeal 1134/06 Rushrush v. Mansur (published in “Nevo”, 10 November 2009) (twelfth paragraphof the ruling).
56
Civil Appeal 43/49 Ashkar v. Supervisor of Absentee Property Northern District, (1949) 2 PD 926, p.
933.
54

21
  

  

below) and, in such a situation, the rights the absentee had in the property prior to its
transfer to the Custodian would return to him or to someone in his stead.57
3.2.3

Declaration of a person or property as absentee

Article 30 of the APL considers the certifications issued by the Custodian declaring that acertain person is an absentee or that a certain property is absentee property.
Article 30(a) and 30 (b) in the APL provide as follows:(a) Where the Custodian has certified in writing that a person or entity of persons is
an absentee, that person or entity of persons shall, so long as the contrary has not been
proved, be regarded as an absentee.
(b) Where the Custodian has certified in writing that some property is absentee
property, that property shall, so long as the contrary has not been proved, be regarded
as absentee property.
Israeli case law determined that, considering the wording of Article 4(a)(1) of the APL,
the action of certification by the Custodian is declarative rather than constitutive and its
relevance is to the domain of the rules of evidence.58 In other words, Articles 30(a) and30(b) do not determine the rights and do not deal with the provisions of vesting theproperty in the Custodian, but deal solely with the rules of evidence. Because of thevesting, the rights of ownership are vested in the Custodian upon the actualization of theprovisions of Article 1 in the APL, regardless of the date of the certificate's issue.59
However, as detailed below, the issuing of a certificate under Article 30 is not merely atechnical matter, since the Custodian's certification that a particular person or a property
is absentee has significance in all matters relating to the method of proof and to thetransfer of the burden of proof.
Articles 30(a) and 30(b) therefore provide that upon the Custodian’s certification that a
particular person (or entity of persons) or property are absentee, the burden of provingthat this is not so lies with the party challenging the certification. It should be mentionedthat when the Custodian issues a certificate under Article 30(a) (regarding a person), heor she cannot rely on such a certificate in cases where the question of ownership of theproperty is disputed. In such a case, in order for the burden of proof to pass to the otherparty, the Custodian must issue a certificate under Article 30(b) (regarding property).60
However, it should be emphasized that when the Custodian issues a certificate under
Article 30(b) of the APL, as stipulated under Article 5 of the APL, he is not obligated to57

Civil Appeal 54/82 Edmond Levi v. Late Afane Mahmud, (1986) 40(1) PD 374, p. 386.
Civil Case (Haifa District Court) 458/00 Baha'i v. Custodian of Absentee Property (published in “Nevo”,
19 September 2002) (Section 8 of the ruling).
59
Ibid.
60
Civil Appeal 127/56 The Custodian of Absentee Property v. Mawis, (1957) 11 PD 64, p. 69; Civil Appeal
109/87 Havat Mekora Ltd. v. Ali Yunes Hasan, (1993) 47(5) PD 1, p. 16.
58

22
  

  

mention that the property belongs to a certain absentee.61 Hence, regarding the burden of
proof in the issue of whether a particular property is absentee property, it is sufficient for
the Custodian to issue a certificate under Article 30(b) of the APL, and he is not obligatedto issue, in addition, a certificate under Article 30(a). A certificate under Article 30(a) has
relevance when the provisions of the APL refer to the absentee himself or when the
Custodian has no ability to relate to particular property of the absentee.62
However, when the Custodian does not issue a certificate as mentioned above, the burden
to prove that a certain person or property is absentee or absentee property is imposed
upon the Custodian. In this situation, the Custodian is burdened with the obligation
shared by every other administrative authority: to establish firm, factual and serious
grounds for proving his claim that the conditions required by the APL exist for the personor property to have absentee status.63 Furthermore, when the Custodian declares that a
particular property is absentee property, and later changes his opinion (i.e. declares thatthe property is not absentee property), the burden of proof to show that the property is notabsentee property does not pass to the owner of the property.64
In practice, there have been many cases in which the Custodian has issued a certificate
under Articles 30(a) and/or Article 30(b) only after legal procedures seeking to establishthat a particular person or property is not an absentee have begun; this is done,
sometimes, many years after the person or property has become, allegedly, absentee.
According to the provisions of the APL, the Custodian passes the burden of proof to theperson who seeks to establish that he, or the particular property, is not consideredabsentee in order to force him to prove “to the contrary”. This practice has been criticizedby the courts more than once.65
Concerning the degree of proof, whoever tries to prove “to the contrary”, meaning that heor she is not an absentee, under Article 30(a) of the APL, or that a particular property is
not absentee property, under Article 30(b) of the APL, bears the same degree of proof
incumbent upon a plaintiff in a civil complaint – a balance of probabilities.66
3.3

Property management and transactions

3.3.1

GeneralAlthough the Supreme Court ruled that the absentee is “not totally dispossessed”, theCustodian of Absentee Property does not have any sort of trustee status regarding
61

Article 5 of the APL stipulates that “The fact that the identity of an absentee is unknown shall not prevent
his property from being absentee property, vested property, held property or released property”.
62
Civil Appeal 415/89 Hasan Salib Darwish v. Custodian of Absentee Property, (1993) 47(5) PD 521, p.
526.
63
Civil Case (Jerusalem District Court) 1532/99 Estate of the Late Taleb Ali Abdulla Abu Zahariya v. Berta
Hamdan (published in “Nevo”, 28 May 2007) (Paragraph 9 of the ruling).
64
The matter of Elad, supra note 47, p. 741.
65
See: Civil Appeal 3166/05 Custodian of Absentee Property v. Estate of the Late George Naame, Tak –El
2007(3) 392 (section 9 of the ruling); the matter of Halim, supra note 40, section 8 of the ruling.
66
Civil Appeal 1397/90 Diab v. Custodian of Absentee Property, (1992) 46(5) PD 789, pp. 794-795.

23
  

  

absentee property. This is clearly set out in Article 4 of the APL, according to which, any
right that the absentee had prior to his absence is automatically vested in the Custodian
upon the transfer of the property.67 However, this is not sufficient for revoking theabsentee's interest in the property and the Custodian therefore has an obligation to
manage the property properly and to preserve its value.68
Under the APL, many powers regarding the management of the property are vested in the
Custodian. Thus, for example, the Custodian has the power to issue a dispossession
certificate to a person that, under the APL, is illegally holding absentee property.69 In
addition, the APL transfers to the Custodian the power to issue stop work orders and evendemolition orders for a building that was constructed, or is being constructed, on absentee
property without permission from the Custodian.70
Conversely, the rights of others, including the absentees themselves, are extremely
limited. For example, a person who holds absentee property is obligated to transfer it to
the Custodian.71 Also, Article 22 of the APL gives a long list of actions that no person isallowed to perform without written consent from the Custodian: to hold, manage orotherwise tend to vested property, to hand it over to any other person save the Custodian,
to remit debt to any person except the Custodian and so forth.72 Article 22(c) of the APL
states that “an act which has been done in contravention of this Article is null andvoid”.73
However, the Custodian also has many duties. The Custodian is obliged to maintain theproperty he holds74 and for this purpose he may spend and invest as necessary to maintainand develop the property concerned.75 In addition, as mentioned above, the Custodian
may only sell the property to the Development Authority.76 The Custodian is also not
permitted to lease the property for a period of over six years, except to the Development
Authority or “to another lessee who undertakes in the contract of lease to cultivate ordevelop the property to the satisfaction of the Custodian”.77
3.3.2

Transactions conducted by the Custodian

Article 17(a) of the APL provides as follows: “Any transaction made in good faith
between the Custodian and another person in respect of property which the Custodian67

The matter of HaBab, supra note 21, pp. 918-919.
The matter of Baha'i, supra note 58, paragraph 25 of the ruling.
69
The Absentee Property Law, supra note 1, Article 10(a).
70Ibid., Article 11(a). It is possible to appeal to the District Court regarding an order issued by the
Custodian under this Article.
71
Ibid., Article 6(a).
72
Ibid., Article 22(a). It should be mentioned that any person who violates any provision of this Article
might even be convicted of a crime. See Article 35(a)(1) in the APL.
73
Ibid., Article 22(c).
74That is, to maintain the property that he is actually holding, see Ibid., Article 1(g).
75
Ibid., Article 7.
76
Ibid., Article 19(a)(1).
77
Ibid., Article 19(a)(2).
68

24
  

  

considered, at the time of the transaction, to be vested property shall not be invalidated
and shall remain in force even if it is proved that the property was not at the time vested
property”.
This Article of the APL is concerned with transactions made by the Custodian with athird party (i.e., not the absentee) and it constitutes a sort of specific “market-overt” rulein regard to property that was erroneously considered to be absentee property. It shouldbe mentioned that this Article is different than the “market-overt” rule found in Article 10of the Israeli Land Law,78 which provides that “whoever purchases a title in a regulated
property with consideration and relying in good faith on the registration, the power ofthat title shall be valid even if the registration was incorrect”. Contrary to Article 10 of
the Land Law, the protection given to the buyer under Article 17(a) of the APL is notcontingent on the Custodian, as the seller, registering with the Land Registry. In order forthe transaction to remain valid, it is enough that the buyer purchased the property fromthe Custodian while the latter believed that the property was lawfully vested in him, even
if the Custodian is not registered. The reason for this lies in that, as mentioned above, thetransfer of the property to the Custodian is not contingent on the registration of theproperty under the name of the Custodian.79 Hence, the APL puts the original owner ofthe property – even if the property was illegally declared as absentee property – at asignificantly inferior position in comparison to the position of the person who purchased
the property from the Custodian.
In order for Article 17(a) of the APL to be applied in practice, it is necessary to determinethat the parties to the transaction were acting in good faith. This determination has
relevance to Article 18 of the APL, dealing with the fate of those properties that were
erroneously considered to be vested absentee properties. Article 18 deals with theCustodian's discretion when deciding between the option of handing over the property inkind, or the option of handing over its consideration, subject to the legal situation as
established in Article 17.80 In circumstances where both parties to the transaction wereacting in good faith, the Custodian is obliged to return the consideration that he actually
received for the property to the original owner of the property. However, the Custodian is
not obliged to return the property itself, and is also not obliged to pay its worth on the daythat it is ruled that the property was not actually absentee property. Whoever purchased
the property from the Custodian in good faith shall not be obliged to return the property.81
In contrast, when it is established that the parties to the deal were not acting in good faith,
the protection of the “market-overt” rule does not apply and the person from whom theCustodian received the property is entitled to return of the property.82

78

The Land Law, 5729-1969, Laws of the State of Israel No. 575, 27 July 1969, p. 259.
Banyan, Land Law: The Principles and Rules, supra note 11, p. 833.
80
The matter of Havat Mekora, supra note 60, p. 17.
81
Concerning this matter, see, inter alia, Civil Appeal 6783/98 Custodian of Absentee Property v. Estate ofTurya (Surya) Abd Al-A'ni Musa, (2002) 56(4) PD 161, pp. 175-176.
82
The matter of Elad, supra note 47, p. 746.
79

25
  

  

3.4

Release of absentee property

3.4.1

Custodian power to release vested property

It appears from the above that the purpose of the APL’s provisions is, first and foremost,to protect the interests that the State has in the property of those declared absentees. This
purpose is reflected in the automatic manner in which a property is vested in the
Custodian, and the broad powers granted to the Custodian. To this end, the APL does notcontain a provision limiting the duration of the vesting in the Custodian and it also does
not acknowledge the existence of a general arrangement for the release of absentee
property. As a rule, this property is not released.83
An exception to this appears in Article 28 of the APL. The Article, entitled “the Releaseof vested Property”, allows the Custodian to consider whether to release a vested
property. Article 28(a) establishes: “The Custodian may, in his sole discretion, but
subject to the provisions of Article 29, release vested property by certificate under his
hand; and as soon as he has done so, that property shall cease to be absentee property andany right a person had in it immediately before it was vested in the Custodian shall revert
to that person or to his successor”. This Article should be read together with Article 29 of
the APL, according to which the Custodian shall not use his power to release vested
property, “unless such has been recommended, in respect of each case or a particularclass of cases, by a special committee to be appointed by the Government”. The releaseof the properties does not cancel their transfer to the Custodian from the outset, but
returns them to the ownership of the absentee.84
Rulings of the Supreme Court state that the Custodian's discretion under Article 28 of the
APL is limited to those cases where the committee has recommended that he release theproperty. In these cases, the Custodian has final discretion and may choose not to release
the property in spite of this recommendation. In contrast, if the committee refrains fromrecommending releasing the property, or recommends not releasing the property, theCustodian has no discretion to subsequently release the property.85
Not only is the Custodian’s power to consider the release of property limited to cases
where the committee recommends that he do so, it is also customary for the Custodian todecide which applications submitted to him should go to the committee. The Custodian
does not pass all property release applications to the committee, as revealed in a casebefore the Haifa District Court. The District Court criticized this practice and determinedthat in choosing to pass along only certain property release applications, the Custodian
violated his obligation to consult the committee as required under the APL.86 It should be
mentioned that in the appeal of this decision, the Supreme Court determined that theDistrict Court’s interpretation that the Custodian has to first consult the committee ineach case, “is not free of doubts, since it is possible to interpret Articles 28-29 in the83

The matter of Golan, supra note 22, p. 645.
Civil Appeal 263/60 Kleiner v. Estate Tax Administrator, (1960) 14 PD 2521, p. 2545
85
The matter of Cockran, supra note 40, in the ninth paragraph of the ruling.
86
The matter of Baha'i, supra note 58, section 20 of the ruling.
84

26
  

  

Absentee Properties Law as stipulating that it is necessary to receive the committee's
recommendation only in cases where the Custodian is in the opinion that the property
should be released”. The Supreme Court ruled that it saw no need to decide on thatpoint.87
3.4.2

Criteria for releasing the property

Criteria for releasing ‘absentee’ property under Article 28 are not specified by the APL.
When the courts set out to examine the plausibility of the committee's recommendation(and, thereafter, the Custodian's decision) not to release absentee property, they usually
discuss the question of whether the continuation of the transfer of the property to theCustodian is in line with the purposes of the APL. Or, in other words, whether the
specific case heard in the court is of the kind of case to which the APL is supposed toapply.
For example, in the matter of Cockran, where the committee's decision to releaseproperty owned by a woman who was considered an “absentee” was discussed, JusticeCohen indicated that Article 28 is supposed to give “a glimmer of hope and relief for
those who have fallen under the definition of ‘absentee’, but should not have been
included among the absentees. In his claims before us, the petitioner's representative
called these people ‘technical absentees’…”. In this context, the Justice related to “people
that had in fact no legal, physical, ideological or any other link with the enemies ofIsrael”.88 In that same case, the chairman of the committee mentioned, in the responding
affidavit that was submitted within the framework of the petition, his own explanation as
to why the property should not be released, reasons which apparently have nothing to dowith the purposes of the APL:
Since the petitioner is a resident outside Israel and since she has no need for theproperty or its consideration for her sustenance, and considering that the Minister of
Foreign Affairs did not consider it necessary to release the property for reasons of
diplomacy or hasbara [a word in Hebrew referring to the need to explain certain
governmental action to the Israeli and international public], then the property should
not be released.89
Eventually, in that same case, the Court ruled that the matter of the petitioner should be
returned to the committee for reconsideration of the legal and factual claims.
The question of releasing absentee property also arose in a case before the Haifa District
Court. This case discussed the question of the absentee status of property in the area thatwas owned by the descendants of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha'i faith. Within theframework of the discussion of whether to release this property from the Custodian’s
authority, the Court cited the special case of the Baha'i religion and decreed:87

The matter of Baha'i (Azal), supra note 47, section 16 of the ruling.
The matter of Cockran, supra note 40, in the 12th paragraph of the ruling.
89
Ibid., in the 7th paragraph of the ruling.
88

27
  

  

Today, the Baha'i have no national aspirations, and they do not have any country who
could or who wants to be their custodian. On the contrary, while the centre of thisreligion is in Israel, its believers are scattered all over the world, not necessarily in the
Middle East. If so, what do political arrangements in the distant future with thePalestinians or with other countries, have to do with the matter of the Baha'i? Whereis the link between the purpose of the Law, to retain property for some day in the
future, and the continued holding of non-particular portions of land by the Custodian?
How will the release of the property violate the principle of mutuality in the future,
between Baha'i property held in enemy countries and the property of absentee Baha'isin Israel? Is there any such property?90
Based on this case law, it can be stated in general that the absentee property owner will
have a better chance to release the property under Article 28 of the APL if he candemonstrate that he is a resident of Israel, that he is not in a country that was defined as
an enemy state, that he did not act against Israel in any way, that the release of theproperty is preferable for reasons of diplomacy or hasbara, and that special humanitarianconsiderations work in his favour.
At the same time, it has been established that the interest of the State in this property
should also be taken into account: the ability to utilize absentee property for furthering
the development of the country until the consolidation of political arrangements between
Israel and its neighbours, in which the fate of the property shall be decided on the basis ofmutuality between the countries. Such an interest could be, for example, theestablishment of public institutions.91 Therefore, it seems that according to the court's
approach, each case should be decided on its own merits.
3.4.3

Release of property under Article 27 of the Absentee Property Law

Article 27(a) of the APL provides as follows:(a) If the Custodian is of opinion that a particular person whom it is possible to define
as an absentee under Article 1(b)(1)(iii) left his place of residence (1) for fear that the enemies of Israel might cause him harm, or(2) otherwise than by reason or for fear of military operations,the Custodian shall give that person, on his application, a written confirmation that heis not an absentee”.
Article 27(b) of the APL provides as follows:(b) The Custodian may, in his sole discretion, but subject to the provisions of Article
29, provide written confirmation that a particular person who is at the time lawfully in
90
91

The matter of Baha'i, supra note 58, section 29 of the ruling.
The matter of Golan, supra note 22, p. 644.

28
  

  

the area of Israel is not an absentee, even though it be possible to define him as an
absentee, if the Custodian is of opinion that such person is capable of managing his
property efficiently and that he will not in so doing be aiding the enemies of Israel.
Article 27(a) of the APL, therefore, obliges the Custodian to provide the absentee,
included in the alternative of Article 1(b)(1)(III), certification that he is not an absentee,
provided that he fulfils the conditions specified in the Article. According to Alexandre(Sandy) Kedar, the mechanism facilitated by this Article was designed to exempt Jews
who could technically fall within the APL’s definition of “absentees”, from application of
the APL. The wording “left his place of residence for fear that the enemies of Israel
might cause him harm” reflects this intent.92
The Custodian may not elect to refuse to provide the said certificate.93 In the event that an
absentee owner receives a certificate under Article 27(a), the property under discussion
automatically ceases to be absentee property as of the day of the certification without theneed for a recommendation by the special committee under Article 29 of the APL.
A question arose in the Israeli courts whether Article 27(a) applies when it is possible todefine a person as an absentee under Article 1(b)(1)(III) (that is, a definition of absentee
by virtue of departure from the usual place of residence in Israel), but also under one ofthe other alternatives in Article 1(b)(1) (namely, definition of absentee by virtue of
citizenship or being subject of some country or by location in an enemy country). In a
1953 Supreme Court ruling, Justice Landau answered this question in the affirmative. In
other words, if a person fulfils the conditions of Article 27(a), then even if it is possible toconsider him an absentee according to other definitions in the APL, he should be
provided with certification that he is not an absentee.94
Anyone not fulfilling the conditions of Article 27(a) of the APL can petition to release
the property under Article 28 (see above) or to request not to be considered an absentee
under Article 27(b). Then, the Custodian may, after receiving a special recommendationfrom the committee under Article 29 of the APL, grant that request.

92

Kedar, “On the Legal Geography of Ethnocratic Settler States”, supra note 2, p. 425.
HCJ 99/52 Anonymous Person v. Custodian of Absentee Property, (1953) 7 PD 836, p. 839; the matter ofBaha'i (Azal), supra note 47, section 10 of the ruling.
94
The matter of Anonymous Person, supra note 93. It should be mentioned that this ruling of JusticeLandau sparked controversy. In a 2008 Supreme Court ruling, Justice Grunis stated that in the future it shallbe appropriate to give further consideration for this rule because, as he phrased it, there is no reason to
improve only the situation of a person who fulfils all conditions of the third alternative in addition to theother alternatives, and not to improve the situation of a person who fulfils only the other alternatives. See
the matter of Baha'i (Azal), supra note 47, section 13 of the ruling.
93

29
  

  

3.5

Compensation

3.5.1

The Absentee Property (Compensation) Law of 1973

The Absentee Property (Compensation) Law 5733-197395 (the Compensation Law) was
passed in 1973; it specifies the cases where compensation for absentee property may beclaimed. The Compensation Law was passed in the wake of Israel’s unlawful annexationof East Jerusalem in 1967. At the end of the 1948 War, many Palestinians who had
previously resided in areas that after the 1948 War were included within the boundariesof the new State of Israel, including in West Jerusalem, fled or were deported to East
Jerusalem. These Palestinians, who Israel subsequently considered absentees regarding
their property within Israel, became residents of Israel after the annexation of East
Jerusalem in 1967. According to Benvenisti and Zamir, the Compensation Law was
passed as a compromise between conflicting interests held by Israel: On the one hand,acknowledgment by Israel of the right of Palestinians to receive back the property theyabandoned (or were forced to abandon) in 1948 could have set a precedent for
acknowledgment of a general “right to return” Palestinian property; On the other hand,
Israel wanted to return property in East Jerusalem to Jewish citizens who claimed pre1948 ownership of property in the area, property that was held by the Jordanians from1948-1967.96 Total disregard of the ownership claims of Palestinian residents of East
Jerusalem would not have been accepted in accord with the desire to transfer property inEast Jerusalem into Jewish hands or with the Israeli effort to make the Israeli unificationof the city final and irreversible. For this reason, the Compensation Law was passed as
middle ground, offering financial compensation as a substitute for the rights that thePalestinians had in lands situated in areas that became part of Israel.97
Article 1 of the Compensation Law defines “property” as “immovable property whichbecame absentee property and on the date of the coming into force of this Law [1 July1973] is vested in the Custodian, or before that date was transferred from him to theDevelopment Authority… or was legally expropriated from him”. The Compensation
Law, therefore, does not apply to real property that became absentee property after 1 July
1973.
Article 2 of the Compensation Law provides that:
A person entitled to claim compensation for property is a person who is an Israeli
resident on the date of the coming into force of this Law or becomes an Israeli
resident thereafter and who before the property was vested in the Custodian was oneof the following: (1) the owner of the property, including the person who would havebeen his heir had the property not been vested; (2) in the case of urban property – anabsentee who was the tenant thereof, including his wife who lived with him at thattime; (3) the lessee of the property; (4) the holder of an easement over the property.
95

Laws of the State of Israel No. 701, 6 July 1973, p. 164.
See section 4.1.2 below.
97
Benvenisti and Zamir, “Private Claims to Property Rights in the Future Israeli-Palestinian Settlement”,
supra note 24, pp. 301, 310.
96

30
  

  

Article 4 of the Compensation Law decrees a maximum period for submitting a claim forcompensation – 15 years from the Law's effective date or two years from the day that theclaimant became a resident of Israel, whichever came later.
3.5.2

Article 18 of the Compensation Law – cancellation of the opportunity to apply forreleasing absentee property

Article 18 of the Compensation Law provides as follows: “from the date of the coming
into force of this Law, an absentee's claim for a right in property, or for the release ofproperty under Article 28 of the Absentee Property Law, 5710-1950… shall not be heard
save in accordance with this Law”. Theoretically, the conclusion to be drawn from this
Article is that after the enactment of the Compensation Law it would no longer bepossible to release property under Article 28 of the APL (see chapter 3.4 above).98 The
High Court of Justice also established this in a 1980 ruling.99 Although it seems that thepower to release property, under Article 28 of the APL, remained with the Custodian, inlight of Article 18 of the Compensation Law, an individual has no right to apply for the
release of absentee property, but only to petition for compensation.100 Also, in a 2007
Supreme Court ruling, the Court decided that:
It is from the answer of the respondent that we learn that in actual fact, the Custodianis still discussing applications for release under Article 28 of the APL. This court aswell did not refrain from hearing petitions that complained about the manner in which
the power is exercised under Articles 28-29 of the Law… as we shall see, this issue,
concerning the relation between the release arrangement found in Article 28 of theAbsentee Property Law and the compensation arrangement in the Compensation Law
does not require any decision in the matter before us.101
The Compensation Law applies only to absentees residing in Israel (including East
Jerusalem). While the right to demand compensation is therefore not granted to absentees
residing outside of Israel, these absentees are also exempt from the application of theCompensation Law as a whole, including Article 18. In other words, absentees residing inareas where Israeli law does not apply (for example, the West Bank, excluding East

98

This is in contrast to a case seeking to establish that certain property never vested in the Custodian due tothe fact that it does not comply with the definition of “absentee property”. In cases such as these, it is still
possible to argue for release of the property to its owner (see: the matter of Afane, supra note 57, p. 385;
the matter of Baha'i, supra note 58, section 22 of the ruling).
99
HCJ 721/79 Shukri Nicola Mikhail v. Custodian of Absentee Property, (1980) 34(4) PD 201, p. 205.
100
In other words, the individual may still petition the court claiming that the Custodian, in his decision not
to release the individual’s property, did not exercise his discretion properly. The matter of Baha'i, supranote 58, section 23 of the ruling; also, see Banyan, Land Law: The Principles and Rules, supra note 11, p.
831.
101
Civil Appeal 8481/05 Lulu v. Custodian of Absentee Property (published in “Nevo”, 28 February 2007),section 9 of the ruling.

31
  

  

Jerusalem, or other states), may still apply for the release of their property according to
Article 28 of the APL.102
It should be mentioned that the compensation offered to eligible individuals under theCompensation Law was not generally commensurate with the realistic value of theproperty. In addition, political considerations also sometimes acted as a deterrent, such as
the perception that receiving compensation legitimizes Israel’s practices. For thesereasons, the actualization of the right to compensation by absentees residing in Israel andresidents of East Jerusalem (concerning the latter's property that remained within theGreen Line)103 was very limited.104
3.6

Interpretation of the Absentee Property Law in light of Basic Law: Human
Dignity and Liberty

As set forth above, the provisions of the APL are widely inclusive. Examples of thisinclude the definitions of “absentee” and “absentee property” under the APL, the mannerin which the property is vested in the Custodian, the many powers granted to theCustodian and the broad discretion provided to the Custodian on the question of whether
to release absentee property.
The Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, enacted in 1992, elevated property rights in
Israel to the status of constitutional rights.105 In light of this development, it is arguablethat the comprehensive provisions of the APL do not accord with the Basic Law.106
Although according to Article 10 of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, theBasic Law cannot annul the validity of any law that was in existence prior to theenactment of the Basic Law107 the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the constitutional
status that certain rights have received (such as property rights) can affect theinterpretation of pre-existing laws.108
In a precedent-setting ruling on the issue of land expropriation, the Supreme Court sitting
as the High Court of Justice referred to the constitutional status of property rights as afactor that affects the interpretation of the purpose of the law as well:
Within the framework of this new balance a change may take place in the purpose ofprevious laws. A purpose that was impossible to attribute to the law before thelegislation of the basic laws can be attributed following the enactment of basic laws.
102

Motion (Jerusalem District Court) 1401/76 Late Afane Mahmud v. Hashem Khalil Elsaid, (1981)
District Court Rulings 5742(2) 322, p. 331.
103
The demarcation line resulting from the 1949 Armistice Agreement between Israel and its neighbours,
and which marks the line between Israel and the territories it occupied following the 1967 War.
104
Benvenisti and Zamir, “Private Claims to Property Rights in the Future Israeli-Palestinian Settlement”,
supra note 24, p. 301.
105
Article 3 of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, Laws of the State of Israel No. 1391, 25 March
1992, p. 150, declares that “there shall be no violation of the property of a person”.
106
The matter of Baha'i, supra note 58, section 27 of the ruling.
107
The Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, supra note 105, Article 10.
108
Various Criminal Requests 537/95 Ganimat v. State of Israel, (1995) 49(3) PD 355.

32
  

  

The wording of the law has not changed, it is the purpose of the law that may change.
The change may be minor. It may reflect a new purpose that is attainable – even if itwere not actually attained – in the past. The change may be major. It may reflect a
new purpose that was unattainable in the past.109
In regard to the APL, the courts did begin to interpret the Law, in some cases, in amanner that was more appropriate to the newly recognized constitutional status ofproperty rights. Thus, Justice Okon in the District Court of Jerusalem, interpreted thedefinition of “absentee” in Article 1(b)(1)(II) of the APL, which relates to a legal ownerof property that is found “in any part of Palestine outside of the territory of Israel”, in alimited manner, to make it inapplicable to a resident of territory that is under Israeli
military control. Justice Okon justified his decision by relying on, inter alia, the fact thatevery provision of law, even if the law is old, should be interpreted in the spirit of theprovisions of the Basic Law.110
In addition, regarding the term “was in” that appears in the same Article of the APL, it
was determined by the Jerusalem District Court, in a different case, that this term should
not be interpreted as including a clearly temporary sojourn in an enemy country. In thismatter as well, weight was given to the guiding interpretative principle that the provisionsof the APL should be interpreted in as limited a manner as possible to minimize any
infringement of constitutional property rights.111
Another example is the interpretation of the presumption in Article 30 of the APL,
according to which, the certificate that the Custodian issues concerning the absentee
status of persons or property is presumed true as long as it is not proven to the contrary.
According to a ruling issued by the Jerusalem District Court, this presumption must also
be interpreted in light of the Basic Law in a reasonable and limited manner. The Court
ruled that prior to issuing a certificate of this kind, the Custodian must have complete,well-founded and reliable information on which it is possible to base the decision that thepersons or property concerned fall within the definition of absentees.112
Clearly, these specific interventions on the part of the courts are not enough to nullify thesevere provisions of the APL; perhaps they are sufficient only for alleviating certain
effects on very particular points. Amending the APL is a matter for the legislature, whichhas, so far, chosen not to do so, even in cases where the transgression of justice cannot beclearer, such as the case of “present absentees”.113
In summary thus far: To this point, we have discussed the provisions of the APL and thecircumstances surrounding its enactment in the wake of the 1948 War. We elaborated on
109

HCJ 2390/96 Karsik v. State of Israel, Israel Land Administration, (2001) 55(2) PD 625, p. 712.
Originating Motion (Jerusalem District Court) 3080/04 Daqaq Nuha v. Heirs of the Late Naame Atiya
Adwi Najar (published in “Nevo”, 23 January 2006), sections 5-6 of the ruling.
111
The matter of Awad, supra note 38, section 19 of the ruling.
112
Request of Permission to Appeal (Jerusalem District Court) 3093/98 Custodian of Absentee Property v.
Saadi, (1998) Tak-Mech 98(3) 2781, section 3 of the ruling.
113
See, in this regard, supra text accompanying note 34.
110

33
  

  

the harsh provisions of the Law that made it possible for the Israeli authorities to transfer
a great deal of Palestinian property to Israeli control following the 1948 War. As detailed
below, the 1967 War and the annexation of East Jerusalem have introduced new avenues
for Israeli authorities to take over Palestinian land using the APL. The Israeli policies andpractices in this regard will be discussed in the coming chapters.

34
  

  

4.

Utilization of the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem

4.1

Application of the Law to East Jerusalem post-annexation

4.1.1

The Law and Administration Procedures Law of 1970

During the 1967 War, Israel occupied the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Sinai
Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Immediately after the war, the State of Israel unilaterally
annexed approximately 70,500 dunams (7,050 hectares) of West Bank land to themunicipal boundaries of West Jerusalem and applied Israeli law, jurisdiction andadministration to the annexed territory. The annexed territory included not only Jordanian
Jerusalem (approximately 6,500 dunams), but also an additional 64,000 dunams, most ofwhich belonged to 28 Palestinian villages in the West Bank114. This annexed territory is
known today as “East Jerusalem”.
In 1970, the Knesset passed the Law and Administration Procedures Law [Consolidated
Version], 5730-1970 (hereinafter: “the 1970 Law”).115 This law decreed the legal
arrangements required for turning East Jerusalem into a territory in which Israeli law
applies. Among other things, this law addressed the question of absentee property.
The State of Israel decreed East Jerusalem a territory to which the State's law applies.
Consequently, the APL was applied, exactly the way it is written, to East Jerusalem. Thissituation led to almost all property in East Jerusalem considered, from that day, as
absentee property, since the property in question was, after the annexation – at leastaccording to Israeli law – within the territory of Israel, but the majority of the owners ofrights in the property held Jordanian citizenship.116 In order to prevent this potentiallyabsurd situation, Article 3 of the 1970 Law decreed as follows:(a) a person who at the effective date of the Law Application Order [28 June 1967]
was within the area of its application and was a resident within it, shall not be
considered from that day as an absentee according to the meaning of this term in the
Absentee Property Law 5710-1950 concerning a property on the same territory;

114

In regard to the legislation that facilitated the annexation, see: Law and Administration Ordinance(Amendment No. 11) – 1948, Laws of the State of Israel No. 499, 28 June 1967, p. 74; The Law andAdministration Order (No. 1) – 1967, Israeli Collection of Regulations No. 2064, 28 June 1967, p. 2690;
Municipalities Ordinance (Amendment No. 6) – 1948, Laws of the State of Israel No. 499, 28 June 1967, p.
74; Municipalities Ordinance (Declaration on the Enlargement of Jerusalem's City Limits), Israeli
Collection of Regulations No. 2065, 28 June 1967, p. 2694.
115
Laws of the State of Israel No. 603, 13 August 1970, p. 138. A previous version of this law was enacted
in 1968 (Law and Administration Procedures Law 5728-1968, Laws of the State of Israel No. 542, 23
August 1968, p. 247).
116
This status was granted to the residents of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, after the annexationof this territory by the Kingdom of Jordan after 1948.

35
  

  

(b) for the matter of this Article, there is no practical difference if after the effective
date of the Order that person was found, under permit, in a place where his presence
there would have made him an absentee were it not for this provision.117
Concerning the provisions of Article 3 of the 1970 Law, the following should be
mentioned:

As the Article provides, residents of East Jerusalem are not considered absentees
in relation to property within the annexed territory only. These residents willcontinue to be considered absentees in relation to the property that they own inother areas to which Israeli law applies.118

According to the case law, the wording of Article 3(a) – “was within the area of
its application and was a resident within it” – posits two cumulative conditions
which a person must fulfil in order for this Article to apply such that he shall not
be considered an absentee:119 (1) Being physically located in an annexed territoryin 28 June 1967 (the effective date); and, (2) being a “resident” of those areas
according to the definition of the term in the Population Registry Law 57251965.120 In this regard, it is noted that immediately after the 1967 War, Israel
conducted a census in the areas annexed to Jerusalem. Palestinians who were
physically present at the time were registered in the Israeli population registry andwere granted Israeli identity cards, but not Israeli citizenship. According to Israeli
law, these Palestinians are considered “permanent residents”.121
However, over the years the status of permanent resident was granted in a few
cases also to people who did not register in the 1967 census and for that reason
were not registered as residents. Status of permanent resident was granted to thesepeople where they managed to demonstrate unequivocally that they had been
residents of East Jerusalem prior to the 1967 War and continued to live inJerusalem without interruption since 1967. Although the legal proceedings withregard to these individuals, in some cases, were held many years after theannexation, the Israeli Courts ruled that their residency status would beconsidered as though granted in 1967.122 The Jerusalem District Court and the117

The 1970 Law, supra note 115, Article 3.
For that matter, see also: Benvenisti and Zamir, “Private Claims to Property Rights in the Future IsraeliPalestinian Settlement”, supra note 24, pp. 308-309.
119
Civil Case (Jerusalem District Court) 4293/02 Mash'al v. Custodian of Absentee Property (published in“Nevo”, 9 January 2008), sections 29-33 of the ruling. The Supreme Court upheld this ruling (see: Civil
Appeal 4664/08 Mash'al v. Custodian of Absentee Property (published in “Nevo”, 11 July 2010)).
120
The Population Registry Law 5725-1965, Laws of the State of Israel No. 466, 1 August 1965, p. 270,
Article 1(a).
121
The Supreme Court ruled in 1988 that the law regulating the residency of Palestinians in East Jerusalem
is the Entry into Israel Law – 1952. See HCJ 282/88 Mubarak Awad v. Prime Minister of Israel, (1988) PD
42(2) 424.
122
See, for example: HCJ 3652/96 Camal Abu Saad v. Military Commander – West Bank Area, Dinim
Elyon 2005 (38) 335, sections 1 and 3 of the ruling; Administrative Petition (Jerusalem District Court)
118

36
  

  

Supreme Court held that these individuals also fulfil the cumulative conditions ofArticle 3(a) and therefore they also shall not be considered absentees.123
The Jibril Awad caseA case that was heard in the Jerusalem District Court dealt with additional interestingquestions pertaining to Article 3 of the 1970 Law. This case dealt with an East Jerusalem
resident, Jibril Awad, who was convicted of security offences and sentenced to 15 years
imprisonment in Israel. After serving 3 years of his sentence, the State of Israel suggested
that instead of serving the remaining part of his sentence, he would be deported to Jordan.
Awad consented and was subsequently deported to Jordan in 1971, where he remained for
one week. He subsequently resided for six months in Kuwait, until moving to residepermanently in Germany, where he received German citizenship. During his stay in
Kuwait, Awad periodically renewed his permit to stay there by travelling to nearby Iraq
and immediately returning to Kuwait. Also, during his original move to Germany, hestopped for a few days in Syria.
In 2008, The Custodian notified Awad, who was in Germany, that he is an absentee in
relation to his property in East Jerusalem. Awad appealed the Custodian’s decision in the
Jerusalem District Court, requesting that the court declare he was not considered anabsentee. The District Court granted the request. In regard to Article 3 of the 1970 Law,
the District Court found as follows:First, the wording of Article 3(a) in the 1970 Law relates to a person who was a residentof East Jerusalem on 28 June 1967. The wording of the Article does not require that theperson shall continue to be a resident of Israel (including residence in East Jerusalem). In
other words, if that person loses the status of resident, this, in itself, shall not lead to him
being considered an absentee.124 However, as we shall see below, other circumstances
may yet turn him into an absentee.

812/05 Shawish Muhammad Sa'id v. Ministry of the Interior, Dinim Minhali 2006(43) 1475, section 9 of
the ruling.
123
Civil Case 4293/02 and Civil Appeal 4664/08, supra note 119. It should be mentioned that thepossibility of acquiring the status of permanent resident, which was also available to those who did notregister in the 1967 census yet resided in East Jerusalem at the relevant period, is no longer possible. This isunder section A of government resolution 2492 dated 28 October 2007. The resolution can be viewed at
this link: http://www.pmo.gov.il/Secretary/GovDecisions/2007/Pages/des2492.aspx (Site was last accessedon 8 April 2013).
124
The matter of Awad, supra note 38, section 20 of the ruling. In the same matter, it was mentioned that
adding to the Article a requirement that the person continues to be a resident of Israel in order not to beconsidered an absentee “will significantly increase the number of people with potential to be injured by theprovisions of the Absentee Property Law, because it will lead to the application of this law to all people
who were residents at the time that the order was declared but later ceased to be so, even if they became
residents of a country that is not among the enemies of Israel. Interpretation of this nature is too broad, does
not accord with the clear and explicit wording of the Article, and does not correspond with theinterpretative rule according to which the interpretation of any piece of legislation that violates
constitutional property rights (even if they predated the legislation of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and
Liberty) should be a narrow one to minimize the infringement these rights as much as possible”.

37
  

  

Second, in regard to Article 3(b) of the 1970 Law, the District Court decreed that thepresence of a person who complies with the criteria specified in Article 3(a) of the samelaw in one of the enemy countries shall not turn that person into an absentee only when
his or her presence in the enemy country is under permit. Any other behaviour that turns
a person into an absentee under the APL – for example, presence in one of the enemy
countries without permit – would still bring him within the definition of absentee.125
Third, in this particular case, the Court ruled that Awad's sojourn in Jordan was “underlegal permit” since his departure to Jordan was with the State of Israel's consent and eveninitiated by the State. The Court also ruled that:
Article 3 of the Law does not require the departure to be made through a formal
document of one type or another and its wording merely required that the departure
shall be under legal permit, that is – it is not a matter of illegal crossing of the border
or an unlawful departure. Therefore, it should be determined that the essence of therequirement included in the Article is that the departure shall be done in a manner thatis legal and permitted with the consent of the State and not covertly, in a manner of
infiltration or by illegal departure.126
Later in the ruling, the Court established that “it is possible, therefore, that the reason
why those who depart under permit to enemy countries (for example, those who make thepilgrimage to Mecca under permit) do not turn into absentees under the Absentee
Property Law, is that being located in an enemy country for the matter of this Law does
not include a temporary stay that does not involve the creation of any real link to the state
where they are located”.127
Fourth, regarding Awad's stay in Iraq and Syria, the court ruled that it was not under
permit, since the permit referred exclusively to the stay in Jordan and therefore his
presence there did not fall within the definitions of Article 3(b) of the 1970 Law.128
However, the Court ruled that since Awad's stay in Iraq and Syria only lasted a few days,
then it is impossible to conclude that because of these short periods Awad had (for the
purposes of the APL) become an absentee.129
The Custodian appealed to the Supreme Court against the District Court’s ruling in the
Awad case, and argued against both the assertion according to which Awad should not be
considered absentee and the principles established therein and referred to above. At thehearing, the Supreme Court recommended that the Custodian withdraw his appeal. The
Custodian consequently acquiesced to the conclusion of the District Court in this125

The matter of Awad, supra note 38, section 22 of the ruling.
Ibid., section 23 of the ruling.
127
Ibid., section 24 of the ruling.
128
Ibid., section 25 of the ruling.
129
Ibid., sections 26-29 of the ruling.
126

38
  

  

particular case, but stressed that the principles asserted by the District Court should be
dealt with in a separate case and reserved his arguments pertaining thereto.130
4.1.2

Application of the 1970 Law to Israeli property in East Jerusalem

Besides the provisions regarding absentee property, the 1970 Law deals with property inEast Jerusalem that was owned prior to the 1948 War by Jews, and that was transferred to
the Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property between 1948 and 1967.131 Following the1967 War, this property came under Israeli administration and is now managed by the
Israeli Custodian General.132 The 1970 Law, enacted following the Israeli annexation of
East Jerusalem, provides for the Israeli Custodian General to release this property,
previously under the control of the Jordanian Custodian of Enemy property, to the alleged
owners or the owners' heirs.133
The asymmetry of Israeli legislation can be seen when juxtaposing the provisions of theIsraeli legislation regarding Palestinian absentee property within the Green Lineboundaries with the Israeli legislation regarding properties in East Jerusalem owned byJews prior to 1948.
As noted previously, Palestinians who owned property on the western side of the GreenLine (including West Jerusalem) prior to 1948 cannot, in most cases, reclaim theirproperty. This property has been transferred, in accordance with the APL, to theCustodian of Absentee Property, who in turn sold it to the Development Authority,
which, in many cases, then transferred the property to Jewish Israelis. The general rule –according to the APL and court rulings – is that this property should not be returned to its
previous owners. Article 28 of the APL, which constitutes an exception to this rule,
allows the Custodian to use his discretion to consider whether to release property alreadyvested in the Custodian. The Custodian's discretion under Article 28 of the APL is limited
to those cases where a special committee, formed in accordance with Article 29 of the
APL, recommends that he release the property.134
The 1970 Law, however, provides a wholly different approach. According to the 1970
Law, once the pre-1948 owners of particular property in East Jerusalem establish thatthey were indeed the true owners of the property, the Custodian General must release theproperty to them. Thus, the 1970 Law not only decrees that this property – as opposed to130

Civil Appeal 3941/10 Custodian of Absentee Property v. Awad (published in “Nevo”, 10 October 2011).
To the best of our knowledge, a new case, raising similar issues, has yet to come out in front of an Israeli
court.
131
These properties had been transferred to the Jordanian Custodian according to the Trading with the
Enemy Ordinance (Palestine), No. 36 of 1939.
132
The Custodian General (not to be confused with the Custodian of Absentee Property), who is under theauthority of the Ministry of Justice, manages by law all property in Israel whose owners cannot manage it
or are untraceable. As we will elaborate below, the Custodian General has also a significant role withregard to property in East Jerusalem that was owned by Jews prior to 1948.
133
The 1970 Law, supra note 115, Article 5.
134
In regard to the mechanism enabling, in certain cases, the release of absentee property to its previous
owner and the lack of guidelines on which kinds of property should be released, see chapter 3.4 above.

39
  

  

property belonging to Palestinian absentees – should be released to its previous owners,
but also provides that the Custodian General cannot even exercise any discretion on thesubject. He is obliged to hand the property back to the owners.
Moreover, it should be noted that Israeli Jews who abandoned their property in East
Jerusalem in 1948 received alternate property in West Jerusalem from the State of Israel
as compensation. In most cases, this property was previously owned by Palestinians prior
to 1948. According to the 1970 Law, these Jews may also reacquire rights in property
they previously owned in East Jerusalem despite the fact that they have already been
compensated for the loss of this property.135
A completely different regime applies to property owned by Jews prior to 1948 andlocated in parts of the West Bank that were not annexed to Israel in 1967. Following theIsraeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the authorization to administer and manage
property in these areas came under the responsibility of the Custodian of Government andAbandoned Property of the Israeli Civil Administration.136 The current stance of theIsraeli Civil Administration137 with regard to this property is that it should not be released
to the pre-1948 owners. They base this position, presented by State representatives incases before the Israeli High Court of Justice, inter alia, on Israel’s obligation, as theoccupying power, to maintain public order in the occupied territory. The State added that
releasing this property to the pre-1948 owners may lead to a series of claims byPalestinian refugees to reacquire their property left behind in Israel in 1948. Since,
according to Israeli law, these claims would most likely be rejected, it may lead to anincrease in disputes over land in the region and, as a result, to an increase in tension.138
The High Court of Justice has, to date, upheld this position.139
The High Court of Justice has also ruled that the post-1948 vesting of this property in the
Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property annulled the ownership rights of the previous
owners.140 Following the 1967 Israeli occupation, this property became “governmental
property” that should be managed according to the provisions of international
humanitarian law pertaining to public property in an occupied territory. According tothese provisions, the occupying force may administer and even enjoy the use of thisproperty, but it does not acquire ownerships rights therein. The administration of theproperties should be carried out in the framework of the law of occupation, i.e., for the135

Speech by Adv. Michael Ben-Yair, former Attorney-General, in a seminar “Sheikh Jarrah and Israel's
Interests”, held in the Jerusalem Institute for Israeli Studies, 29 November 2010. See:
http://www.jiis.org.il/?cmd=media.341&act=read&id=638 [Hebrew]. (Site was last accessed on 8 April2013).
136
The Order concerning Government Property (West Bank Area) (No. 59), 1967, Articles 1-2.
137
The Civil Administration is the Israeli military governing body, set up in 1981, that operates in theoccupied territory of the West Bank.
138
HCJ 1285/93 Schechter v. Commander of Judea and Samaria (published in “Nevo”, 8 December 1996),
section 9 of the ruling; HCJ 3103/06 Valero v. State of Israel (published in “Nevo”, 6 February 2011),
section 12 of the ruling.
139
The matter of Schechter, supra note 138, section 18 of the ruling; the matter of Valero, supra note 138,
sections 49-50.
140
The matter of Valero, supra note 138 sections 27-31 of the ruling.

40
  

  

purpose of keeping public order and fulfilling the needs of the protected persons (in thepresent case, the Palestinians).141
With regard to property as owned by Israelis prior to 1948 but located in parts of theWest Bank that were not annexed to Israel, the Israeli High Court of Justice has endorsed
the State's position not to release the property to the previous owners. However, from an
Israeli domestic law perspective, this position cannot prevail with regard to the same typeof property located in East Jerusalem. As mentioned above, according to Israeli law, East
Jerusalem is an integral part of Israel to which Israeli legislation applies, and is not an
occupied territory. Consequently, the status of said East Jerusalem property is governedby the 1970 Law .142
The Sheikh Jarrah case
The situation of the Palestinian residents evicted from their houses in the East Jerusalem
neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah exemplifies the problems created by applying a different
legal standard to East Jerusalem.143 From the early 1970s, the Palestinian refugeecommunity in Sheikh Jarrah has been the target of eviction proceedings brought before
Israeli courts by Jewish and settler organisations, who claim ownership pre-dating 1948.
Since November 2008, eviction proceedings have resulted in the displacement of at least
68 individuals from three extended families (11 nuclear family units). 25 additionalfamilies in this area remain at risk of a similar fate.
The Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah became refugees in 1948 after displacementfrom their homes in West Jerusalem and other areas that became part of Israel in thewake of the 1948 War. In a joint project of the government of Jordan and the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),
these families were housed in homes in Sheikh Jarrah. Settler organisations claim thesehomes were owned by Jews prior to 1948. Sheikh Jarrah land, believed to have been
owned by Jewish individuals prior to 1948, was under the control of Jordan at that timeand held by the Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property. Following the 1967 War and theannexation of East Jerusalem to Israel, the property that had been managed by the
Jordanian Custodian was vested, according to the 1970 Law, in the Israeli Custodian
General. At the same time, two Jewish Committees, the ‘Sephardic Community
Committee’ and the ‘Knesset Yisrael Committee’, laid claim to ownership of this Sheikh
141

Ibid., sections 33-45 of the ruling.
It should be pointed out that in cases of a clear-cut contradiction between international humanitarian law
and Israeli domestic law – the latter prevails. (see, for example, HCJ 256/01 Rabah v. Jerusalem Court ofLocal Affairs (2002) 56(2) PD 930).
143
What is written below with regard to the Sheikh Jarrah cases is based, primarily, on the following:
Yitzhak Reiter and Lior Lehrs, “The Sheikh Jarrah Affair: The Strategic Implications of Jewish Settlement
in an Arab Neighborhood in East Jerusalem”, The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, 2010, pp. 23-31;
The Civic Coalition for Defending Palestinians' Rights in Jerusalem, Dispossession & eviction in
Jerusalem: The cases and stories of Sheikh Jarrah, December 2009, pp. 10-17, http://www.civiccoalitionjerusalem.org/ccdprj.ps/new/pdfs/Sheikh%20Jarrah%20Report%20(2).pdf (Site was last accessed on 8
April 2013).
142

41
  

  

Jarrah property. They initiated legal proceedings for the release of the property from theGeneral Custodian and for primary registration of the property under their names in the
Israeli Land Registry. These proceedings concluded in 1972, with the Committees
acquiring rights from the Israeli Custodian General and obtaining primary registration of
the property. The two Committees launched eviction proceedings against the Palestinian
residents and at a certain point transferred ownership of the property to “Nahalat Shimon
International” – an organisation that aims to promote plans for Jewish building andsettlement in Sheikh Jarrah. The eviction proceedings have led, since 2008, to forced
displacement and risk of forced displacement of Palestinian families in the community.
In summary, the 1970 Law and the Compensation Law, passed following the Israeli
annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, combined with the provisions of the APL, havetogether created a blatant asymmetry. While Jews can reacquire ownership rights inproperty they owned prior to 1948, Palestinians cannot do so. The inequity is even clearer
if we take into account that many of the Israelis today claiming their pre-1948 property
have already been compensated and, in some cases, have received replacement property
in West Jerusalem, property that was itself previously owned by Palestinians prior to1948. In addition, some of the Palestinians who are evicted today as a result of this policy
are themselves – as in the Sheikh Jarrah cases – refugees from 1948.
We will return at this point to the discussion of Palestinians who are considered absentees
with regard to their property in East Jerusalem.
4.1.3

Of the absentees in East Jerusalem

All persons who have rights in property in East Jerusalem but cannot prove that Article 3of the 1970 Law applies to them (i.e., cannot prove that on 28 June 1967 they were within
the annexed area and were residents within it) are considered absentees in relation to thisproperty. These individuals can be divided into several categories:

144



Present absentees: persons who were residents of East Jerusalem on 28 June
1967 and continued to reside in this area even after this day, but for some reason
did not register in the 1967 census and were not granted status as a result of theirresidency in Jerusalem on the effective day. Hence Article 3 of the 1970 Law
does not apply, according to the above, to these persons.



Residents of the occupied Palestinian territory (excluding East Jerusalem):persons who were residing in the oPt (except for East Jerusalem) on 28 June 1967
are considered absentees in relation to their property in East Jerusalem. The
question of the absence of these persons is still contested today.144 Even persons
who resided in East Jerusalem on the effective date and received the status ofIn this matter, see chapter 4.3 below.

42
  

  

permanent resident may be considered absentees if they subsequently relocated toelsewhere in the oPt and Israeli authorities then revoked their status in Israel.145


4.1.4

Residents and/or citizens of ‘enemy’ countries: persons who were residing on
28 June 1967 in one of the ‘enemy’ countries listed in Article 1(b)(1)(I) of the
APL. As detailed above, this category also includes persons who were residents ofEast Jerusalem on 28 June 1967 and who received status in Israel by virtue of thispresence, but at some later stage relocated to reside in an ‘enemy’ country withoutacquiring a legal permit from Israel to do so. This category also includes persons
who received citizenship in ‘enemy’ countries.146
Cabinet resolutions in the matter of the Absentee Property Law's application147

From the above, it is evident that the sweeping provisions of the APL, combined with theprovisions of the 1970 Law, enable the Custodian to decide that much of the property
located in East Jerusalem falls within the definition of “absentee property”. And yet,shortly after the annexation of East Jerusalem, the Israeli government decided to avoid
applying the APL to certain property in East Jerusalem. The reason for that was that atleast some of the policymakers assumed that “the conditions and circumstances in thematter of Jerusalem are completely different than those that brought about the legislationof the Absentee Property Law of 1950”.148
In a meeting that took place on 22 November 1968 with the participation of the Ministerof Justice, the Attorney General, the Minister of Agriculture and representatives of theIsraeli Security Forces, the Advisor on Arab Matters, the Israel Land Administration and
the Custodian, the following points were agreed upon, in regard to property located in
East Jerusalem:
1. Immovable property belonging to legal permanent residents of Judea andSamaria149 or of countries that are not enemy countries – shall be released tothem, and also in cases where the property belongs in part to such persons and inpart to residents of Arab countries;145

As detailed above (see supra note 124), according to the ruling of the District Court, loss of residency initself is not supposed to cause a declaration that the person is an absentee. However, when the subject of the
discussion in addition relocated to reside permanently in the oPt (and his status may have been revokedbecause of that) – this may cause him to be considered an absentee (for that matter see section 33 ofCustodian’s stance, as submitted to the Supreme Court within the framework of Civil Appeal 2250/06,
supra note 37).
146
With regard to relocation to reside in Jordan and acquisition of Jordanian citizenship, see supra note 32.
147
This subsection is mainly based on a document formulated by the Ministry of Justice in April 1993,
headed “Government Policy Concerning Absentee Property in East Jerusalem – Draft Resolution”[Hebrew]. The document, that was never published, was written according to a government resolution 193,
dated 13 September 1992, passed following the Klugman report (see chapter 4.2.1 below). To the best of
our knowledge, this draft resolution was never submitted to the cabinet.
148
Ibid., section 2 of the document (under the heading: “explanatory notes”).
149
The expression “Judea and Samaria” is the term used by Israeli government officials to denote the WestBank area.

43
  

  

2. Property belonging to residents of Arab countries that prior to 5 June 1967 wasadministered, in whole or in part, by holders of powers of attorney who areresidents of Judea and Samaria or Jerusalem – shall be released to the holders of
power of attorney;
3. Property that is occupied by tenants – shall be released from the application of the
Law and the Custodian shall not handle it;
4. Vacant property belonging to a resident of an enemy country, for which, in whole
or in part, there is no legal representative as mentioned above, shall beadministered by the Custodian provided that it shall be handed over only togovernment ministries or those employed by them and that it shall not be handed
over in protected lease.150
In another meeting dated 3 February 1969, where the matter of the property that was
already taken by the Israel Land Administration was discussed, the following points wereagreed upon:
1. If all owners are in Jerusalem or in Judea and Samaria or in a country that is not
an enemy country – the real-estate shall be returned to their owners.
2. If some of the owners are residents of Jerusalem and [sic]151 Judea and Samariaand some of the owners are residents of Arab countries, but in Jerusalem or Judeaand Samaria there are holders of a notary power of attorney from the owners whoare in an enemy country – the property shall be returned to the owners and theholders of the power of attorney.
3. If some of the owners are in Jerusalem or in Judea and Samaria and some of theowners are in Arab countries and they did not issue a notary power of attorney as
mentioned above – the Custodian of Enemy Property [sic]152 shall appoint a
trustee from among those in Jerusalem of Judea and Samaria for the part for
which there is no notary power of attorney as mentioned.153
From the above, it is evident that shortly after the annexation of East Jerusalem a real
attempt was made to prevent sweeping application of the APL on property in the annexed
150

Government Policy Concerning Absentee Property in East Jerusalem – Draft Resolution, supra note
147, section 3(a) of the document (under the heading: “Explanatory notes”). Protected lease is a situation
where tenants, complying with the provisions of the Protected Tenancy Law (Consolidated Version) 57321972, Laws of the State of Israel No. 668, 13 August 1972, p. 176 are not obliged to dispossess themselvesof the land at the end of the lease period or the termination of the contract. This right was meant to protect
the tenant from being evicted from the property. This is a personal right and its holder may transfer it toanother only under particular conditions. In most cases, the death of the holder of the right also terminates
the right.
151
Author’s note: we believe that the right word here is or, instead of and.
152
Author’s note: we believe that the right phrase here is the Custodian of Absentee Property, not theCustodian of Enemy Property.
153
Government Policy Concerning Absentee Property in East Jerusalem – Draft Resolution, supra note
147, section 3(b) of the document (under the heading:”explanatory notes”).

44
  

  

area. In fact, the government ordered that property whose owners were in Jerusalem, theWest Bank or in a country that is not an enemy country, should not be transferred to theCustodian, even if a literal application of the APL would have led to this property
becoming vested in the Custodian. In addition, a solution was also found for property
whose owners are residents of enemy countries, in the form of holders of powers of
attorney, whether they were residents of Jerusalem or the West Bank. Even in those cases
where the property would be transferred, under these guidelines, to the Custodian – itwould be possible to hand it over only to government ministries and not in a protectedlease.154 Indeed, it seems that following these guidelines, very limited use was made of
the APL in East Jerusalem during the first decade after the annexation.155
This policy changed completely at the end of the 1970's. In 1977, the right-wing Likud
Party was elected to power. In a forum headed by the Minister of Justice at the time,
Shmuel Tamir, and the Minister of Agriculture at the time, Ariel Sharon, it was decided
that:
Property in East Jerusalem belonging to legal permanent residents of East Jerusalem,
Judea and Samaria, whose owners held and used it, in fact, continuously from 5 June
1967, may address themselves to the Custodian … and request permission to continue
to hold and to use the property. The request shall be brought to the advisorycommittee under Article 29 of the Law, and if the petitioner shows in a manner thatsatisfies the committee that he held and used the property in fact during the entire said
period, he shall be allowed to continue to hold it, if in the committee's opinion all therest of the circumstances justify that. The procedure for handling requests in thismatter shall be according to what is mentioned in the Absentee Property Law…156
To the best of our knowledge, no petitions were submitted to the Custodian according tothis procedure. However, it is clear that the decision actually revoked the policy that wascustomary until 1977. The new decision enabled the seizure of all property which falls
within the broad definition of “absentee property”, except property that complied with thestrict conditions detailed in the decision that involve continuous holding and use.157 In
any case – despite the problematic wording of the resolution, as cited above – it can bestated that the possibility of retaining the property was granted only to persons who areresidents of the West Bank, own property in East Jerusalem, and comply with said
holding and use conditions. The burden of proof to show these conditions were met
rested with these residents, rather than the Custodian. It should be stressed that any other154

As set forth below, after the government dropped this policy, many of the absentee properties werehanded over by the Custodian to the Development Authority, which leased them under protected lease tosettler organisations.
155
Government Policy Concerning Absentee Property in East Jerusalem – Draft Resolution, supra note
147, section 3(c) (under the heading: “explanatory notes”).
156
Ibid. It should be noted that the wording of this decision is copied from the document formulated by the
Ministry of Justice in April 1993. We do not know whether the problematic wording cited here was theexact wording of the decision or was just cited that way by the Ministry of Justice's document.
157
Ibid.

45
  

  

behaviour that caused a person to become an absentee according to the APL, made it
possible to transfer the property he owned to the Custodian.
This procedure was established as a temporary procedure, to be submitted forreconsideration in light of its practical application. Attorney General Meni Mazuz statedin 2005 that, actually, no reconsideration of the procedure ever took place and after thefact, it turned out that under this procedure, the APL was misused, as detailed below.158
4.2

Actual use of the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem

The annexation of East Jerusalem to Israel and the legislation that followed made it
possible, therefore, to decide that much of the property in East Jerusalem is consideredabsentee property. Despite initial attempts to limit the use of the APL in East Jerusalem,
beginning in the late 1970s the restrictions were lifted, and the APL was put to wide use.
As detailed below, the Custodian of Absentee Property was utilized as a significant
channel for transferring properties to settler associations in East Jerusalem. These
associations were aware of the vast potential in the transfer of property to the Custodian,and initiated petitions to the Custodian to obtain his declaration of particular property as
absentee property. However, the Custodian has additional methods by which to decidethat a certain property or a part thereof, is absentee property. In this subsection, theinvolvement of the Custodian in matters related to the transfer of real property rights inEast Jerusalem, and in planning and licensing procedures, shall also be described.
4.2.1

Settler takeover of properties with Custodian assistanceDuring the 1980s, an accelerated process began of settler takeover of properties in theheart of Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem. This process was often carried out
under the APL and the cabinet resolution from 1977 to broadly enforce the APL. This
aspect of the Custodian's activity was revealed in the Klugman Committee report; thisCommittee was appointed in order to examine the way in which the State and its agencies
assisted such settler activity. We shall begin by referring to this report and later we will
review the attitude of the courts to the behaviour of the Custodian in specific cases
brought before them.
The Klugman report
In August 1992, the newly-elected government of Yitzhak Rabin appointed an interministerial committee that included representatives from the Ministry of Public Security(called Ministry of the Police at the time), the Ministry of Housing and Construction and
the Ministry of Finance, and also a representative of the State Attorney and a
representative of the Municipality of Jerusalem. The committee was chaired by Attorney
Haim Klugman, the Director General of the Ministry of Justice at the time. The
Committee's mandate was to examine and bring together “all the data relevant to houses
158

See: “The application of the Absentee Property Law to property in East Jerusalem belonging to residentsof Judea and Samaria”, a letter to the Minister of Finance at the time, Binyamin Netanyahu, dated 31
January 2005 [Hebrew] (not published) (hereinafter: “The Mazuz Opinion”).

46
  

  

leased, rented or purchased on behalf of private bodies, non-profit associations (Amutot)
or individuals out of the State budget or with any other assistance from the State and its
agencies in East Jerusalem”.159
At the start of the report, the Committee indicated that “a significant portion of theproperty under examination was the legacy of the Custodian's declaring their original
owners to be absentees, and thus, by virtue of this declaration, it was sold to theDevelopment Authority”.160
In order to carry out its assignment, the Committee heard representatives from various
public organizations and asked them for information; most organizations cooperated with
the Committee. However, concerning the Custodian of Absentee Property, the Committee
indicated that he “did not provide any data at all, claiming that the property regarding
which data was requested had been sold to the Development Authority. This claim
hampered the Committee's ability to give a detailed picture of the data it examined”.161
Despite the Custodian refraining from helping the Committee, it was still possible tolearn from the Committee report how the method of transferring property to settler
associations active in East Jerusalem worked, as described below.
The Committee located 68 properties that were transferred, one way or another, with theassistance of the State of Israel, to Jewish organisations, or to private individuals, in East
Jerusalem. The State invested vast sums in those properties in acquisition, renovation,broker fees, and lawyer fees and so on.162
As for the involvement of the Custodian, the Committee indicated that property was
declared absentee property based on information provided to the Custodian by the settler
159

Report of the Committee to Examine Buildings in East Jerusalem, dated 10 September 1992
(hereinafter: “the Klugman report”), section 1(a). The report was not published. An English translation canbe found in “The Klugman Report – Report of the Committee to Examine Buildings in East Jerusalem”,
The Palestine Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 9, 1996/1997, pp. 417-435.
160
Ibid., p. 419.
161
Ibid.
162
Ibid., pp. 421-423. On the matter of this property see also: Nir Hason, “State gave East Jerusalem lands
to rightist groups without tenders”, Ha'aretz, 5 November 2010. The article mentions several properties thatwere sold, leased or let to the Elad and Ateret Cohanim associations on behalf of the State. Apparently,
most of the properties were vested in the State by the power of the APL. Detailed information in the matterof 11 properties was received following two petitions submitted under the Freedom of Information Act
5758-1998, Laws of the State of Israel No. 1667, 29 May 1998, p. 226: Administrative Petition (Jerusalem
District Court) 8260/08 Ir Amim v. The Israel Land Administration (not published, ruling given by consent
on 22 September 2008); Administrative Petition 1974/09 (Jerusalem District Court) Yesh Din Voluntary
Organization for Human Rights v. Israel Land Administration (published in “Nevo”, 21 June 2010). The
information includes: general location of property (in what community), property size, sum paid for theproperty and method of handover). The difference between the number of properties for which information
was received within the framework of the petitions (11) and the number specified by the Klugman report(68) is explained in the article thus: there are other associations and companies, some of which are notincorporated in Israel, to which the properties were transferred. It is also possible that information
concerning the several properties that were transferred to Elad or Ateret Cohanim was not given to thepetitioners despite what is referred to in the rulings.

47
  

  

associations and based on dubious affidavits of Palestinian residents, signed before those
associations’ lawyers. The Committee asserted that:
The truthfulness of the affidavits was not checked by the Custodian, the Custodian
did not visit the properties, he did not examine them, [assess] their value or whether
they [their acquisition] involved eviction of families, and did not allow otherclaimants to argue their claims or their opposition… Some affidavits concerning
different pieces of property were made by the same person, without the Custodian
making an elementary check of his identity, his credibility, the way in which he got tothe lawyer or the association, the source of his knowledge and the payment hereceived for his services.163
The property that the Custodian declared as absentee property was sold by the Custodian
to the Development Authority, which entrusted its administration to the Amidar
Company,164 or to another branch of the Ministry of Housing. From there, the property
was transferred, usually under a protected lease agreement in exchange for nominal
payments, which were not in line with market value, to the control of settler
associations.165 In meetings of the Ministry of Housing acquisition committee, where it
was decided to whom to lease or rent the properties, sat representatives of settler
associations – who, as mentioned above, were involved in locating those properties – asproject managers on behalf of the Amidar Company. The settler representatives took partin making decisions such as how much money would be allocated for renovating theproperty before it vested in lessees or renters, and approved their security budgets(budgets designated mainly to protect settlers residing within existing Palestinian
communities). The Klugman Committee asserted that the participation of settler
associations' representatives in the acquisition committee constituted a deviation fromproper administration procedures, and indicated a conflict of interest.166
In the report summary, the Committee asserted that “the performance of the Custodian ofAbsentee Property was defective in the extreme and, in the opinion of the Committee, he
did not exercise the minimum level of judgment required of one holding this job”.167

163

The Klugman report, supra note 159, p. 426.
The Amidar Company is a governmental company for public housing established in 1949. Among its
other activities, Amidar manages absentee property transferred from the Custodian to the Development
Authority.
165
The Klugman report, supra note 159, pp. 433-434.
166
Ibid., pp. 426-428. See also: Meron Rapoport, Shady Dealings in Silwan, Ir Amim, May 2009, pp. 11-13
167
The Klugman report, supra note 159, p. 434.
164

48
  

  
Photos: Houses in Silwan which were declared “absentee property” and subsequently
transferred to the hands of settlers.
The Abbasi House. (Photo
by: Emek Shaveh).

Beit Hatzofeh ("the lookout
house") (Photo by: Peace
Now).

Beit Hamaayan ("the springhouse") (Photo by: Peace
Now).

49
  

  

Legal proceedings
An example for the manner of conduct referred to by the Klugman report can be found ina case that reached the Supreme Court. In September 1987, the Custodian's office issued
a certificate declaring that certain property in Silwan in East Jerusalem – registered under
the name of Ahmad Al-Abbasi, who passed away in 1980 – was property that falls in its
entirety under the definition of “absentee property” under the APL, and that the rights inthis property were, therefore, vested in the Custodian. The Custodian sold the rights inthe property to the Development Authority in June 1988, which then transferred theadministration of the property to Amidar, who leased parts of it under a protected lease to
the Elad Association.168 The estate of the deceased and his heirs filed suit in the District
Court against the Development Authority and requested that the Court issue a declaratory
ruling that the ownership rights in the property belong to them and that any transaction
concerning the property should be considered void. The District Court accepted most of
the claim, and an appeal of its ruling was submitted to the Supreme Court. At the end of
the proceedings it was ruled that only part of the property was considered absentee
property and vested in the Custodian, and that the transaction of the sale of the property
to the Development Authority, and the transfer of the rights to the Elad Association, werevoid.169
Within the framework of the legal proceedings, the conduct of the Custodian was
severely criticized. It was ruled that the actions of the Custodian were tainted withextreme lack of good faith. Although the affidavit submitted to the Custodian claimed
that only 5/8 of the property is absentee property, it was decided by the office of the
Custodian to sell the entire property, without the office verifying or disproving what wasstated in the affidavit. The Court also ruled that the Custodian was subject to directpressure from the Israel Land Administration to sell the property to the Development
Authority, and the Custodian refrained from exercising independent consideration
whether to do so.170
Another case that was heard in the Jerusalem District Court also concerned property in
Silwan for which the Custodian issued a certificate in 1988 under Article 30(b) of the
APL that the property under discussion was absentee property. During the court
proceedings, the Custodian admitted that, in fact, the certificate was issued without him
knowing for certain who owned the parcel and whether that owner was an absentee. The
168

The Elad Association, set up in 1986, aims to strengthen the ties of the Jewish people to Jerusalem
throughout the ages by tours, educational activities, settlements and publishing information materials (see:http://www.guidestar.org.il/organization/580108660 [Hebrew]. Site was last accessed on 8 April 2013).
Elad is also engaged in archaeological excavations that are often being criticised for being, inter alia,
incomplete and biased as they predominately use a biblical lens to emphasize Jewish history, whileneglecting to illuminate several layers of historical remains from other cultures and religions (see:http://www.truah.org/issuescampaigns/justiceforjerusalem/insideneighborhoods/253-elad.html. Site waslast accessed on 8 April 2013); Yonathan Mizrachi, Archaeology in the Shadow of the Conflict: the Moundof Ancient Jerusalem (City of David) in Silwan, Emek Shaveh.
169
The Matter of Elad, supra note 47, p. 749.
170
Ibid., pp. 745-746.

50
  

  

Custodian also admitted that, in this case, the property was declared absentee property
based on a single affidavit that the Custodian made no effort to verify. Subsequently, theCourt indicated that from statements made by the Custodian of Absentee Property in a
discussion in the Knesset concerning this issue, it is evident that the person who gave theaffidavit was in fact a “serial affidavit-giver”, who provided between 10 and 15 similaraffidavits. It also turned out during the court hearing that the same person was paid forproviding these affidavits. The court ruled that the declaration of the parcel as “absentee
property” was not valid.171
Cabinet policy after the submittal of the Klugman report
The Klugman report was submitted to the cabinet on 13 September 1992. On that day, thecabinet passed a series of resolutions the purpose of which was a comprehensive
examination of the practices and legal rights relating to the property described in thereport, and the cabinet's policy in that context. The Attorney General and the Minister ofFinance (the Minister responsible for the office of the Custodian of Absentee property)
were charged with several tasks, among them examining the Custodian's conduct anddrawing the necessary conclusions.172 The Ministry of Justice subsequently prepared adraft resolution in April 1993, which formulated new policy guidelines concerning theapplication of the APL in East Jerusalem:a. No certification of absentee property shall be given in relation to immovable
property of which the full ownership or most of the ownership in it belongs toowners located in Jerusalem or in the territories of Judea and Samaria and in thearea of the Gaza District (hereinafter – the territories) or in a country that is not anenemy country, and no possession in them shall be seized as absentee property;b. In property as mentioned above where only a minority of the ownership belongs
to residents of Jerusalem or the territories or a country that is not an enemy
country, the Custodian of Absentee Property may appoint a trustee from among
those [i.e. the minority owners] for the part in the property whose owners areresidents of an enemy country.
c. A vacated property belonging to a resident of an enemy country without a holderof power of attorney in relation thereto, in whole or in part as mentioned above,
shall be administered by the Custodian of Absentee Property, provided that it ishanded over exclusively to government ministries or public bodies and nothanded over under a protected lease.
d. Concerning properties whose owners shall request the release of the property andits return to their possession – the existing situation, in which the owners can
171

Civil Claim (Jerusalem District Court) 1870/96 Heirs of the Late Barbanela Nuniz Fatiha v. Himnuta
Ltd., Tak-Mech 99(2), 4112, sections 12 and 30 of the ruling. In regard to the same issue see: Civil Claim(Jerusalem) 1053/95 Ruweidi v. Jewish National Fund (published in “Nevo”, 2 May 2012).
172
Cabinet Resolution No. 193, dated 13 September 1992. The resolution was not published.

51
  

  

submit a request, as mentioned, to the Custodian of Absentee Property and to thespecial committee under article 29 of the law, shall remain unchanged.173
The Ministry of Justice suggested, therefore, returning to the policy that was declared
before 1977. The draft resolution does not distinguish between property of persons
located in East Jerusalem, in the rest of the occupied territories, or in countries that are
not enemy countries – all of which shall not be declared absentee property and possession
shall not be taken thereof as absentee property. The draft sought to establish that thetransfer of property to the Custodian’s administration will be approved only when its
owners have no holder of power of attorney among the residents of said territories. Evenin this situation, the property shall be handed over only to government ministries or to
public bodies, and shall not be leased under a protected lease. In making this point, theMinistry of Justice emphasized the illegality of transferring the property to private hands
under protected lease as set out in the Klugman report.
As far as is known, this draft resolution was never brought to the cabinet. However, theAttorney General at the time, Yosef Harish, gave instructions to halt application of the
APL in this manner and to return to the policy that prevailed until December 1977.174
Nevertheless, it seems that during the years that followed submission of the Klugman
report, no real steps were taken in order to prevent the occurrence of the phenomena
revealed in the report, and most of the resolutions the cabinet passed subsequent to thereport were not followed. Property that was taken from its legal owners was not returned,
and no supervision and control mechanisms over the Custodian's conduct were formed. In
light of these omissions, a petition was submitted by Knesset Member Haim Oron andthe Ir Shalem Association to the High Court of Justice in 1995, with the purpose of
forcing the relevant authorities to implement the conclusions of the Klugman report andthe subsequent cabinet resolutions. The State Attorney announced in its response to thepetition that a professional team was established by the government with the purpose of
preventing the recurrence of the practices addressed in the report. The Court dismissed
the petition on the basis of this undertaking.175
It is important to note that, according to a cabinet resolution dated 13 September 1992,
the government of Israel ordered the State Comptroller to conduct a special inquiry
concerning the findings of the Klugman report.176 After several years of inquiry, adecision was made to cancel the inquiry. A petition was submitted to the High Court of173

Government Policy Concerning Absentee Property in East Jerusalem – Draft Resolution, supra note 147,
p. 1.
174
See: the Mazuz Opinion, supra note 158, p. 2
175
HCJ 2179/95 Ir Shalem Association v. Minister of Finance, (Submitted on 5 April 1995). The Attorney
General’s announcement was submitted on 28 March 1996. The ruling in this petition issued on 5 February
1997 (published in “Nevo”).
176
This kind of inquiry is conducted according to the State Comptroller Law 5718-1958 [Consolidated
Version], Laws of the State of Israel, No. 248, 20 March 1958, p. 92.

52
  

  

Justice on this matter in 1998. The petition was erased based on the State's undertaking toprevent the recurrence of the practices described in the report.177

Photo: Karm Al-Mufti in Sheikh Jarrah. The land was declared “absentee
property” and subsequently leased to the Ateret Cohanim settler association,
which intends to build 250 housing units in the area. (Photo by: Mohammad
Haddad).

In spite of the State undertakings set forth above, no serious examination of theconclusions of the Klugman Committee was ever carried out, and it is doubtful whether
the professional team that the cabinet appointed at the time completed its work.178
Already in 1997, the government eased the limitations on exercising the APL, and theCustodian was allowed to issue certificates that declared vacant property as absentee
property with the authorisation of the Legal Advisor of the Ministry of Finance.
Concerning occupied properties, authorisation from the Ministry of Justice was required,in addition to authorisation from the Ministry of Finance Legal Advisor. It seems,
however, that this practice was put to use in only a limited fashion.179 In March, 2000, a
ministerial forum comprised of the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Justice and theJerusalem Affairs Minister, decided that a transfer of any kind whatsoever of East177

HCJ 3723/98 Ir Shalem Association v. Prime Minister of Israel (submitted on 14 June 1998). The
petition was erased on 21 December 1999.
178
For further details on this matter and in the matter of the government's conduct following the Klugman
report, see the petition HCJ 4492/05 Atiq v. Commander of Central Command (the petition was submitted
on 10 May 2005). For details on this petition see infra note 206.
179
The Mazuz Opinion, supra note 158, p. 3.

53
  

  

Jerusalem property from the Custodian to the Development Authority, requires theapproval of the Ministerial Forum, or anyone authorised by them for this purpose.180
A sharp change in direction in government policy occurred again in 2004. On 22 June
2004, the Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs passed a resolution cancelling thelimitations that were established in March 2000. In a June, 2004 meeting in which only
two ministers participated – Natan Sharansky, the Jerusalem Affairs Minister, andZevulun Orlev, the Welfare Minister – it was decided “to make it clear, in order toremove doubt, that the Custodian of Absentee Property has powers under Article 19 of
the Absentee Property Law 5710-1950 that include execution, transfer, sale or lease of
East Jerusalem real-estate property to the Development Authority”.181
The Attorney General at the time, Meni Mazuz, firmly opposed this resolution. He wrote
in his letter dated 31 January 2005, to Binyamin Netanyahu, the Minister of Finance atthe time (the Minister responsible for the office of the Custodian):This resolution was passed contrary to the opinion of the two representatives of the
Ministry of Justice who appeared before the committee. This decision presumes toremove all limitations on exercising the power of the Custodian for Absentee
Property concerning properties in East Jerusalem. I would also mention that contrary
to the draft resolution, in which the exercise of the power was conditioned “subject toconsultation with the Legal Advisor of the Ministry of Finance or his representative,
concerning any action as mentioned above in an occupied property”, in the resolutionthat was passed, this condition was omitted. This resolution came into force as acabinet resolution on 8 July 2004, in the absence of an appeal thereon (decision
number 2207). Regretfully, due to error, this was not brought to my knowledge at thetime and I was informed of the resolution only recently because of petitions I received
on this matter. It should be immediately clarified that this resolution cannot remain inforce. It is not in the power of the Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs toprovide legal interpretation of the limits of the power of the Custodian of Absentee
Property, and it is not part of its role to deal with making policy for the use of powers
under the Absentee Property Law.182
The recommendations of Attorney General Mazuz in his 2005 Opinion are concerned
only with the specific issue of implementing the APL in regard to East Jerusalem
property belonging to residents of the West Bank. After the publication of the Opinion,
the Jerusalem District Court decided two cases in support of the position set out in theOpinion. However, two other District Court case rulings contradicted the Opinion. The
question, which is addressed in greater detail below, will now be decided by the Supreme
180

Ibid.
Resolution No. JM/11 of the Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs dated June 22, 2004, which
was validated as a cabinet resolution on July 8, 2004 (cabinet resolution 2207 (JM/11)). The cabinet
resolution
can
be
found
on
the
Israelgovernmentsite:
http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMO/Archive/Decisions/2004/07/des2207.htm (Site last accessed on 8 May 2012).
182
The Mazuz Opinion, supra note 158, p. 3.
181

54
  

  

Court. Nevertheless, it is clear that this recommendation did not prevent the continued
implementation of the APL in East Jerusalem – whether for property belonging to WestBank residents or to others.

Photo: demolition of the “Shepherd Hotel”, January 2011. The hotel was
declared “absentee property” and then sold to settler patron, Dr. Irving
Moskowitz, who intends to build a new Israeli settlement on the property. (Photo
by: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images).

The historical review above – based, at least in part, on the Mazuz Opinion – reflects thedeclared governmental policies and not necessarily the reality on the ground. In otherwords, not every time that Attorney General Mazuz indicated that the governmentchanged its policy did the change actually take place. Even guidelines of various
Attorneys General were not necessarily fully implemented. One example of this is a
Jerusalem District Court case that addressed an absentee certificate issued by the
Custodian in July, 2003. During the court hearing, it was discovered that the manner ofdeclaring the property “absentee property” did not accord with the guidelines that were
allegedly in force at the time. Also, when the Custodian was questioned about theimplementation of the guideline issued in 1969 (see section 4.1.4 above), he responded:“To the best of my knowledge, this guideline was not implemented even a short timeafter it was issued”. Later on, when asked, concerning the guidelines of subsequent
Attorneys General, the Custodian answered: “Absentee Property Law is applied for all
purposes…the issue of implementing the policy, there were all sorts of periods, but ingeneral I am able to say that the Law is implemented”.183
183

Civil Case (Jerusalem District Court) 6161/04 Ayad v. Custodian of Absentee Property, transcript of thehearing on 9 September 2008, pp. 37-38. Judgment issued in this case on 2 October 2008, ruling that theproperty under discussion is considered “absentee property”. An appeal concerning this ruling is being
heard now in the Supreme Court, together with other appeals dealing with the issue of the application of
APL on property in East Jerusalem belonging to residents of the West Bank (see infra note 227).

55
  

  

Transfer of property to the Custodian is not always carried out at the initiative of thesettler associations, as was detailed in the Klugman report and as it is evident from thelegal proceedings described above. The Custodian has additional avenues to identify
property that can be considered “absentee property” under the APL. These additional
channels are discussed below.
4.2.2

Custodian involvement in transferring property rights

Petitioning the Custodian is in many cases an integral part of the process of transferring
rights in East Jerusalem property.184 The petition to the Custodian can be done at thestage of ownership transfer, or even before that. To illustrate this point, when a person
signs a purchase contract for an apartment or land, he may petition the Land Registrar
requesting that a warning note be registered on his title in the Land Registry.185 At thisstage the Land Registrar may ask the buyer to provide a certificate from the Custodianstating that the property is not an absentee property. If the Custodian claims that theproperty is vested in him then, without his authorisation, it is impossible to make any
record regarding the property – whether entering a warning note or registering transfer ofownership.186
It should be remembered that vesting property rights in the Custodian is not subject toany declaration, and can also be done without the knowledge of the owner or the
Custodian.187 Thus, the mere fact that the property is not registered in the Custodian’sname does not mean that the rights are not vested in him. Even if a person checked theLand Registry prior to the property purchase and found that the seller is the owner of theproperty, there is no guarantee that after the purchase it shall not be found that the rights
in property under discussion (or a part thereof) were vested in the Custodian.
This is what happened in a case before the Jerusalem District Court. The petitioner was abuyer who signed a contract for purchasing property in East Jerusalem. When he asked
that a warning note be registered on his title, the Land Registrar asked him to petition the
Custodian, and the Custodian claimed that the property in question is absentee property.
One of the petitioner's arguments was that the Land Registrar is not authorized to184

In any request for transferring rights in real-estate belonging to an East Jerusalem resident, registered tohis name before 1967, the Land Registrar asks, as a condition for registering the rights, to provide a
certificate from the Custodian stating that the property is not absentee property. If the applicant refuses, theLand Registrar petitions the Custodian himself. For this matter, see the testimony of Mrs. Kinneret Cohen,
The Land Registrar in Jerusalem, within the framework of Civil Case 6497/04 Ali Ajaj v. Custodian ofAbsentee Property, transcript of the hearing on 21 December 2008, p. 13 (not published). It should be
mentioned that, as far as known, in other places in Israel, the Land Registrar does not routinely address the
Custodian .
185
A warning note is registered in the Land Registry (the “Tabu”) under Articles 126 and 127 of the Land
Law. The warning generally serves as notice that there is an undertaking to make a transaction or to abstain
from making a transaction regarding particular property. The warning note is written beside the name of theregistered owner of the apartment or land so that if the seller seeks to sell the property for a second timeonce a contract for purchasing the property is signed, the prospective second buyer will discover that theseller is already committed to the person who has requested the warning note.
186
The Absentee Property Law, supra note 1, Article 22(d).
187
See chapter 3.2.1 above.

56
  

  

condition the recording of a warning note on providing a certificate from the Custodian
and asking for such exceeds his authority. The Court ruled that since the Custodian's
proprietary right is not subject to registration in the Land Registry, the practice ofpetitioning the Custodian is essential in cases such as these and it is therefore impossible
to accept the petitioner's argument. The Court ruled that:[…] not only is the cooperation of the kind that took place in this case, between theRegistrar and the Custodian, not inappropriate, it is very beneficial, since it is an
instrument that is essential for effective functioning of the branches of administration(as long as it doesn't entail any breach of privacy), and there is no reason to conclude
that it was done without authority. Lack of cooperation between administration
authorities that operate on related levels, not only impairs the effective action of theadministration by preventing an exchange of information that could have a real effecton the authority's consideration, but may also bring about contradictoryadministrative decisions, harm to the individual who needs the services of theauthority, as well as a long-term harm to the general public.188
Authorisation of the Custodian is also required when the Land Registrar is asked toregister rights in a property with the heirs of the registered owners’ title. A situation ispossible where the heirs, or some of them, fall within the definition of absentee and thus,
the property, or a part thereof, is in fact vested in the Custodian. In the case heard by theDistrict Court, the heirs of a property asked to register their rights in the Land Registry inaccordance with an existing succession order. Following the petition of the Land
Registrar to the Custodian, the latter claimed that as long as it is not proven otherwise,some of the heirs are absentees whose rights in the property are vested in the Custodian.
Accordingly, the Land Registrar refused to register the succession order. In an appeal ofthis decision, the heirs claimed that according to the Land Law, the moment the Shar'ia
court issued a succession order and determined the heirs, the Land Registrar has no
authority to refuse to register them as such, and he is not allowed to exercise any
additional discretion.189 This is certainly so in a case where at the time of the petition toregister the heirs’ title, the Land Registrar had no document from the Custodian that
testifies that the property under discussion is absentee property. The Court did not reject
the practice of petitioning the Custodian, but stated that in the circumstances of this case,
the Custodian – who did not issue certification of absentee status under Article 30 of the
APL, and did not specify which of the heirs are absentees – did not establish anevidentiary basis for deciding that the property in question is absentee property.190
Although the Court did not completely reject the conduct of the Land Registrar, it
questioned whether the Land Registrar was acting within the authority granted under thelaw when she maintained that the registration of the succession order in the records shall
188

Originating Motion (Jerusalem District Court) 210/98 Edmun Asaf v. Custodian of Absentee Property,
Tak-Mech 99(2) 4354, p. 4359.
189
The Land Law, supra note 78, Article 123(b)(2).
190
Various Appeals (Jerusalem District Court) 427/07 Khaled Caluti v. Supervisor of Registration(published in “Nevo”, 25 November 2007), sections 12-16 of the ruling.

57
  

  

be performed on condition that the Custodian is petitioned and his authorisation granted.
The Court cited the principle of legality, according to which the administrative authority
has only the powers granted to it by the legislator, and added:
The provision of article 123(b)(2) in the Land Law orders the Land Registrar toregister a succession order issued by a religious court of law and this is what the Land
Registrar is to do, without imposing further conditions. This, of course, subject to theRegistrar not having before him – at the time the request for registration was
submitted – strong evidence that give grounds to the conclusion that the registration
requested refers to a property that is transferred or to absentee property.191
The Court subsequently suggested an alternative to petitioning the Custodian:[...] the Custodian has alternative means of seizing properties of residents underhostile control, or those who relocated to an area under such control. Thus, the final
part of the provision in Article 22(d) of the Absentee Property Law provides that if achange in title is registered in relation to a property that is vested in the Custodian, thecourt shall order, according to the Custodian’s request, to remove the registration andany subsequent registration… The difficulty lies in the acknowledgement of a
proprietary right of the Custodian in the land, even if and when this right does notreceive expression in the Land Registry. And it was already commented in the pastthat this is indeed an undesirable situation, but the court has no power to change
it…192
4.2.3

Custodian involvement in licensing and planning procedures

The Custodian is also involved in planning procedures and applications for receivingbuilding permits.
Licensing procedures
The signature of the owners of rights in the property is required for an application toreceive a building permit. If the property is registered in the Land Registry the registeredowner of the land or his lessee should sign the application. Where the property is notregistered in the Land Registry – the person who is obliged to pay property tax for theproperty is the one who has to sign the application.193
Application for a building permit for property located on settled land194 registeredin the Land Registry: in the past, because of the complexity of ownership questions
regarding real property and the registration ledgers in East Jerusalem, the building
191

Ibid., section 18 of the ruling.
Ibid.
193
The Planning and Building Regulations (request for permit, its provisions and fees), 5730-1970, Israeli
Collection of Regulations 2581, 8 July 1970, p. 1841, Articles 2A(1) and 2 A(5).
194
Settled land is land that has undergone land settlement procedures and, as a result, is registered in theLand Registry.
192

58
  

  

licensing department in the Jerusalem Municipality was satisfied with the signature of theregistered real property owners, or of their heirs, or of those who purchased the land,
accompanied by proof that the person signing the application is indeed the owner, such as
succession orders or sales contracts. However, in 2000, the Municipality's legal
department instructed the licensing department to allow only the real property ownerregistered in the Land Registry to sign a building permit application, and not any of theheirs or buyers.195 This requirement obligated anyone who purchased or inheritedproperty rights from their registered owner to register as the property owner in the Land
Registry as a condition for applying for the building permit. The potential complicationis, as we have seen above, that the registration procedure requires inquiry with theCustodian. If the buyer or one of the heirs fulfils the definition of “absentee”, theproperty or part thereof shall be vested in the Custodian.
Application for a building permit in property located on land under land settlement
procedure:196 as mentioned, according to regulations, an application for a building
permit for this type of real property requires the signature of the person who is obliged to
pay property tax on the property. In other words, it is necessary to present the registrationin the ledgers that are managed under the Property Tax and Compensation Fund Law
5721-1961197 concerning the relevant parcel. This was the custom in Jerusalem until theearly 2000's. However, in October 2001, the legal department of the Jerusalem
Municipality instructed the licensing department that the person signing the permit
application has to be the same person registered in the real property ledgers of the Israeli
Settlement Officer. This registration procedure also entails the possibility that the person
claiming rights in the real property will be considered an absentee. In 2004, the Jerusalem
District Court decreed illegal the practice according to which it is impossible to open afile for a permit application on the land under settlement before the registration with theIsraeli Settlement Officer is arranged, and found it deviated from provisions of the
Planning and Building Regulations.198 Today, following this ruling, an applicant for abuilding permit for land under settlement is required to provide details, verified by thesignature of a lawyer, describing the progression of transfer of ownership of the land
from the person registered in the registry of the Jordan Settlement Officer through theperson registered in the property tax registers. This chain of ownership is also given to
the Custodian by the licensing department to ascertain whether any of the owners holdabsentee status.
Application for a building permit for property on unsettled and unregistered land:as mentioned, according to regulations, this application also requires the signature of the
195

Nati Marom, The Planning Deadlock, Ir Shalem and Bimkom, December 2004, p. 62 [Hebrew].
In land settlement procedure, lands in a certain area, town or village in the state are systematicallyregistered in the Land Registry under a certain owner. Registration at the end of this procedure constitutes
proof of the registered owner’s right in the land. Due to a decision of the Israeli government, the landsettlement procedures in East Jerusalem have been effectively frozen since 1967.
197
Laws of the State of Israel No. 337, 6 April 1961, p. 100.
198
Administrative Petition (Jerusalem District Court) 333/04 Basiso v. Local Committee for Planning andBuilding Jerusalem (published in “Nevo”, 10 October 2004).
196

59
  

  

person who is obliged to pay property tax on the property. In the past, the Municipality
required in the attachment of an additional document: an ordinary measuring map of theplot, compatible with the city plan, signed by the village Mukhtar and the owners of theplots bordering the plot for which the building permit application was submitted. This
procedure made it possible even for owners of unsettled lands to open a file for building
licensing, without connection to land registry procedures. But since early 2002, theMunicipality began to require applicants for building permits on land that is unsettled andunregistered to prepare a Plan for Registration Purposes (PRP)199 as a condition for
opening the file. As part of this, the permit applicant is required to obtain authorisationfrom the Land Registrar that no fundamental obstacle to the plan exists. However, before
granting the authorisation, the Registrar checks the identity of the land owners andexplores the possibility that one may be considered an absentee.
As demonstrated, customary procedures for building permit applications in East
Jerusalem include petitioning the Custodian as an inherent part of the procedure.
According to case law, it is obligatory as a rule to separate the licensing procedures fromthe proprietary decision concerning rights in the property. This approach dictates thatplanning institutions are not supposed to decide on proprietary questions. Only in cases
where it appears clear, that the permit applicant has no right in the property, can planninginstitutions choose to not process the application.200 It seems, therefore, that the policy of
the Jerusalem Municipality to examine the question of an owner’s absentee status in acomprehensive manner, for each and every application does not accord with court
rulings.
Sometimes, even when an application is submitted by a non-absentee registered owner ofland, and a permit is granted, settlers who claim rights in the property try to revoke thepermit. This happened in a case that was heard before the Jerusalem District Appeals
Committee for Planning and Building in which the Sub-Committee for Planning andBuilding decided to revoke a building permit granted to a Palestinian for property heowned in Silwan. The decision to revoke the permit was made based on the premise thatthe person applying for the permit claiming ownership of the property was not the true
owner, and the permit had been fraudulently obtained. The revocation of the permit
resulted from a petition submitted by settlers to the Sub-Committee claiming ownershipof the property. Although the settlers’ claim was not accepted, the Custodian decided tointervene in the procedure, claiming that at least some of the property was vested in him.
The Appeals Committee decided that the permit applicant was the owner of part of theproperty, at a minimum, and for this reason nothing prevented his submission of an
application for a building permit. The Appeals Committee decision was based on thetheory that a planning institution should refrain from addressing a permit application only
where the permit applicant does not appear to have rights in the property that would
entitle him to carry out the plans for which the permit is requested. Since in the case199

A plan designated to provide a precise description of the parcel and its borders in order to enable theregistration of the land in the Land Registry.
200
HCJ 1578/90 Helen Eizen v. Local Committee for Planning and Building Tel Aviv (published in “Nevo”,
24 October 1990).

60
  

  

referred to herein no obstacle existed to prevent authorisation of the permit, the appeal
was accepted and the decision of the sub-committee was overruled.201
Planning procedures
In order to obtain a building permit, the particular property must be subject to a planningscheme whose parameters make issuing the permit possible. In specific cases, when ademolition order is issued against a building, or when a criminal proceeding is opened
against a person because of building without a permit, the alleged transgressor attempts tovalidate the building retroactively, asking the court for a stay of demolition order. In
cases where the construction without a permit contravened an existing building plan, theperson responsible for the construction may apply for a specific change in the approved
plan (“Specific Town Planning Scheme”).
The Custodian, however, is involved in this planning procedure as well. According toJerusalem Municipality procedures, within the framework of the application for approvalof the scheme, it is required to detail the names of all the land owners within the proposed
scheme and to obtain their signatures. These owners, or some of them, might beconsidered absentees and may therefore lose their rights in the land. This risk exists
because the planning institutions to which the applications are submitted address the
Custodian during consideration of the application for authorization of the scheme.202
The Municipality also requires special documents to prove the ownership of all owners in
the land in the case of an application for approval of a planning scheme on unsettled landor land under settlement. Among other things, a certificate is required from the Custodianthat the relevant real-estate is not absentee property.203
4.2.4

Use of the Absentee Property Law in the course of construction of the Wall204 in
the West Bank

In the early 2000s, it became clear that the government of Israel was using the APL as ameans to take over East Jerusalem properties belonging to residents of the West Bank
during the course of construction of the Wall around Jerusalem, which separated theseowners from their properties.
Procedures for the seizure of land began during 2002, in preparation for the constructionof theWall in the area of the southern municipal border of Jerusalem (as it was defined in
201

Appeal (Jerusalem) 254/09 Sirhan Hussein Ahmad v. Sub-committee for Planning and Building
Jerusalem (published in “Nevo”, 22 December 2009).
202
Marom, The Planning Deadlock, supra note 195, p. 65.
203
Ibid.
204
The term “Wall” is used to denote the physical barrier constructed by Israel in the occupied West Bank
since 2002, though, in places, this barrier takes different forms, including an electric fence, fencing withbarbed wire, trenches and a concrete wall, six to eight metres high. The use of the term “Wall” is consistent
with the terminology used by the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice in its
Advisory Opinion on Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory of 9 July 2004.

61
  

  

1967), and in other areas. At that time, several residents of Bethlehem, who owned
agriculture land within Jerusalem's municipal area – land destined to remain on the“Israeli” side of the Wall – requested that the Israeli military provide access to their landeven after the construction of the Wall. The Legal Advisor for the West Bank replied thatthe military will issue entry permits that will enable them to continue cultivating theirland. Despite this undertaking, these permits were never issued. Only after over two years
had passed and numerous appeals were submitted by the residents, the military sent a
new response. In the response, the military stated that it was impossible to issue therequested permits, since the land no longer belonged to those residents, but was, instead,
vested in the Custodian of Absentee Property. The reason: after the application of Israeli
law to East Jerusalem, West Bank Palestinians’ property in East Jerusalem became
absentee property, since the property was located in Israel while the owner was located“in any part of Palestine outside the area of Israel”, as defined by the APL.
The residents petitioned the High Court of Justice to challenge the military’s position. In
their petition, they argued against the policy of applying the APL to West Bank residents
who hold property in East Jerusalem but do not live there.205 The petitioners also argued
that the State of Israel is taking advantage of the building of the Wall in order to take overthousands of acres of privately-owned Palestinian land. As a result of the petition,
permits were issued to the land owners. However, the question of ownership of the land,
whether the land is vested in the Custodian, remained in dispute.206
The Cliff Hotel case
A glaring example of this practice of securing absentee status for property in the context
of the Wall construction is the fate of the Cliff Hotel in Abu Dis. The Cliff Hotel property
is situated adjacent to the route of the Wall, and the State of Israel claimed it as necessary
for security reasons. The Israeli security forces wanted to take over the hotel, but realizedthat issuing a seizure order for the property is a lengthy process. The idea then arose thatthe hotel could possibly be considered absentee property since it is located in East
Jerusalem and its owner used to live in Abu Dis, a town in the part of the West Bank thatwas not annexed to Jerusalem. Consequently, the hotel was declared absentee property
and captured by the Israeli forces.207 In a hearing held on this matter in the Jerusalem
District Court, which dealt with the question whether this property is absentee property,
the plaintiffs – the children of the person who was declared an absentee – questioned theauthenticity of the security arguments. In addition, the plaintiffs argued that an
examination of the progression of events close to the time that the property was seized by
security forces shows that there were motives other than security needs behind taking
over the property. In support of this they noted that a couple of days following theproperty seizure by security forces, residents moved into houses that had been purchasedin the vicinity by a settler association. The intention of the association to establish a
205

These arguments are described in detail in chapter 4.3 below.
HCJ 4492/05 Atiq v. Commander of Central Command (the petition was submitted on 10 May 2005 anddeleted on 24 July 2006).
207
Meron Rapoport, “This land is your land, this land is my land”, Haaretz, 3 March 2005.
206

62
  

  

settlement near the property was known to the security forces when they took over the
Cliff Hotel property, and the plaintiffs also expressed their fear that the ultimate intention
was to hand the property over for settler use. The ruling in this suit avoided dealing withthe aforementioned arguments raised by the plaintiffs, but rather focused on whether theproperty may be considered “absentee property” according to the APL. The Court ruledthat the property is indeed absentee property, which was legally vested in the
Custodian.208 At the time of this writing, the property is still held by the security forces
and the Custodian.

Photo: Cliff Hotel, Abu Dis. (Photo by: Mohammad Haddad).

As these examples, and others209, demonstrate, the Israeli government has used thesituation it created by constructing the Wall to transfer ownership rights to its own
possession, through the channel of the APL. In the aforementioned cases, the APL served
as a complementary measure to the physical division created by theWall. As a result, notonly are the Palestinian owners residing outside East Jerusalem now physically cut off
from their East Jerusalem property, they are also at risk of losing ownership rights therein
and therefore any claim to use and enjoyment thereof, through cultivation or otheravenues.
In summary: in this subsection we have discussed the manner of implementation of the
APL in Jerusalem. We have seen that, at times, the alleged evidence that particularproperty is “absentee property” reaches the hands of the Custodian seemingly
208

Civil Case (Jerusalem District Court) 6161/04 Ayad v. Custodian of Absentee Property (published in“Nevo”, 2 October 2008). This ruling consisted of legal arguments pertaining to the application of the APL
to properties in East Jerusalem owned by residents of the West Bank. This issue will be dealt in detail in
4.3 below. Today, an appeal on this ruling is pending in the Supreme Court and has been joined with withadditional appeals that deal with the issue of the application of the APL on properties in East Jerusalem
belonging to residents of the West Bank (see infra note 231).
209
See: Meron Rapoport, “Lands Lords”, Haaretz, 21 January 2005.

63
  

  

“unintentionally” within the framework of procedures whose purpose is to transfer rights
in property or in planning and licensing procedures. Moreover, in some cases the
Custodian is provided with information directly from representatives of settlers (see, inthis regard, the findings of the Klugman Report) or the security forces, who seek to use
the APL as a tool for a swift transfer of properties to their hands. Regardless of whether
the issue is vesting properties in the Custodian incidental to other procedures, or if theissue is a deliberate action by interested parties, the picture that arises is of a powerful
body, acting on behalf of the government, which has the ability to revoke proprietary
rights predating many years.
The Israeli policy of using the APL has therefore not only served the settlement
expansion in East Jerusalem but also introduced grave implications for Palestinians'
ability to receive building permits, to register real property transactions and to secure
property rights.
As we have seen, the courts sometimes criticize the manner in which certain property isvested in the Custodian. However, as a rule, the very involvement of the Custodian in theprocedures mentioned above is accepted as routine. Moreover, sometimes the courts evenapprove of this involvement for the sake of system efficiency and prevention of errors.
Even the very application of the APL in East Jerusalem is accepted today as a matter ofcourse, except in regard to applying the APL to Palestinian residents of the West Bank
who have property in East Jerusalem. This matter, which remains in dispute, is dealt within the next section.

64
  

  

4.3

The legality of applying the Absentee Property Law to Palestinian residentsof the West Bank who own possessions in East Jerusalem

As we have seen thus far, the APL severely impinges on rights to property. It was
legislated for very specific purposes, first and foremost to transfer ownership rights inproperty left behind by the Palestinians after they fled or were deported during the 1948
War, to the State of Israel. The APL provisions are also sweepingly inclusive. In
principle, as articulated by the APL, it is applicable to a wide sector of property owners inareas where Israeli law applies. And despite that, the State of Israel chose over the years
to apply it narrowly and almost exclusively to Israel’s Arab citizens and residents. In
many cases, the application of the APL gave rise to absurd and difficult situations, as
illustrated by the status of “Present Absentees”.
As we shall see below, the application of the APL to Palestinian residents of the oPt who
have property in East Jerusalem, gives rise to yet another of many absurd situations that
result from a literal application – to a particular population, of course – of the provisionsof the APL. As discussed previously, Israel annexed a large area of the West Bank in
1967, to which it applied Israeli law. The annexation of this area, which is known today
as “East Jerusalem”, contravenes international law.210 Other parts of the oPt were notannexed to Israel, but remained under its military control. The application of Israeli law
to East Jerusalem led to the property of the residents of East Jerusalem, which is part ofthe oPt, becoming “absentee property”. East Jerusalem property was by virtue of theannexation located in “Israel”, and its owners located in “any part of Palestine outside thearea of Israel”, according to the wording of the APL. These residents have become
absentees solely due to Israel’s unilateral action of imposing different legal regimes onareas that it captured in 1967. Thus, these Palestinian residents of the West Bank became“absentees”, according to the APL, without even leaving their houses.
This subsection will deal with this issue and will examine the position of the State ofIsrael in relation thereto over the years, including the response of the courts.
4.3.1

The position of Israel’s Cabinets and Attorneys General

As noted previously, almost immediately following the annexation of East Jerusalem, adecision was taken to make the application of the APL much narrower regarding
properties in East Jerusalem.211 In regard to the particular issue of real property in East
Jerusalem belonging to West Bank residents, Me'ir Shamgar, the Attorney General at thetime, in a letter to the Israel Land Administration dated 18 August 1969, explained theguidelines according to which the APL should not be applied:
We have seen no tangible vindication for seizing property that has become absentee
property simultaneously with the becoming of the property's owner – who is a
resident of Judea and Samaria – a person who lives under the control of Israeli
210
211

See chapter 5.1 below.
See chapter 4.1.4 above.

65
  

  

government authorities. In other words, since the property was not absentee property
before the day the IDF forces entered East Jerusalem and would not have become anabsentee property if East Jerusalem continued to be a part of Judea and Samaria, wehave seen no justification that the annexation of East Jerusalem, and that alone, shallcause the taking of a property of a person who is not actually an absentee, but islocated from the time his property came to our hands, within the area of rule of the
IDF.212The policy of application of the APL to property in East Jerusalem – including propertyof West Bank residents – changed, as mentioned, in 1977, when an accelerated
application of the APL began in East Jerusalem, the annexed area. Later on, the policy
underwent shifts following the Klugman report, among other triggers. The formerly
mentioned government resolution of 2004 led to the Opinion of Attorney General Mazuz.
This Opinion refers specifically to the application of the APL to properties of West Bank
residents and instructs that, except in special circumstances that were not specified, andsubject to prior authorization of the Attorney General, the APL should not be exercised
regarding these property:
Exercising the powers of the Custodian of Absentee Properties over property in East
Jerusalem of residents of Judea and Samaria raises many legal difficulties, both thoserelating to the application of the Law and the reasonableness of its application underthese circumstances, and in the aspect of the State of Israel’s duties according to therules of customary international law, which have obligatory legal validity under
Israeli law. First and foremost among these duties is the duty of the State to honour
the property rights of residents of an area it holds in belligerent occupation. Theseduties receive further reinforcement in light of the change in the constitutional regime
in the State of Israel, and the redefining of the right to property as a constitutionalright.213
Despite the 2005 Opinion of then Attorney General Meni Mazuz, the State of Israel
continues to apply the APL to property in East Jerusalem held by West Bank residents.
As discussed below, the present Attorney General holds a different opinion in this matter,
which was expressed in the course of legal proceedings that are pending before theSupreme Court on this issue.
4.3.2

The position of Israel’s courts

Early ruling of the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court first dealt with the question of the absentee property status ofproperty belonging to residents of the oPt and located in East Jerusalem in the 1986

212

The letter is cited in the Mazuz Opinion, supra note 158.
The Mazuz Opinion, supra note 158, p. 4. Concerning the significance of the redefinition of the right toproperty as a constitutional right in Israel, in the context of the APL, see chapter 3.6 above.
213

66
  

  

judgment in the matter of Afane.214 The Supreme Court ruled that the APL does apply tothis property, which is, therefore, vested in the Custodian. The plaintiffs in theproceedings before the District Court were the real property owners who continued tolive in the West Bank while their property was located in the area that was annexed to
Israel. The heirs of the real property owners argued that in the context of the APL, WestBank land should be viewed as part of Israel and, for this reason, the plaintiffs are not
located outside of Israel. Consequently, so the plaintiffs argued, the APL should not
apply to them. The District Court, and on appeal the Supreme Court as well, rejected thisargument and ruled that accepting the argument would have led to unreasonable results,
where the APL would have been applicable to all land in the West Bank. The Supreme
Court Justice Avraham Halima, citing the District Court, ruled: “as is remembered, one of
the alternatives in this definition is that the legal owner is a citizen of Jordan, and since a
considerable number of the residents of Judea and Samaria were and still are citizens of
Jordan, accepting the interpretation posited by the plaintiffs' attorney turns them all into
absentees and their property becomes absentee property”.215
It should be mentioned that Justice Miriam Ben-Porat, although subscribing to Justice
Halima's stance, according to which the APL does apply, reflected whether under thesecircumstances the APL should be implemented:
As an aside, I would like to comment that although it is possible to view the counterappellants as “absentees” in the meaning of Article 1(b)(1) in the Absentee Property
Law… the question might arise whether it is appropriate to exercise the authority
under the circumstances of this case. The issue under discussion is the residents ofKfar Aqab, who were at that time residents of Judea and Samaria under the rule of the
IDF. There is no doubt that they would not have been considered absentees if theirlands were not included in united Jerusalem, and from the material before us it could
not be understood whether in the special circumstances of the case there was indeed
justification for seizing their property following the unification of Jerusalem, while
they are present in the place and live under the rule of Israel. The question of themanner in which authority is exercised by the Custodian regarding the parcels underdiscussion is not one of the questions that arise in this appeal, and therefore, mycomment does not change our ruling, as clarified in the ruling of my colleague,
Justice Halima.216
Thus, In the matter of Afane, the Supreme Court gave a green light to apply the APL toresidents of the oPt who have property in East Jerusalem. At the same time, it waspossible to rely on the opinion of Justice Ben Porat and avoid exercising the APL in thesecases, in the spirit of the stance of the Attorney General Shamgar. However, as we haveseen above, the State chose a different policy during those years, according to which the
APL was applied in an accelerated manner, often facilitating transfer of property to thehands of settler associations.
214

The matter of Afane, supra note 57.
Ibid., p. 383.
216
Ibid., p. 390.
215

67
  

  

Another case, in which the Supreme Court refrained from interfering with the applicationof the APL to residents of the oPt, was the matter of Golan, which was heard before theHigh Court of Justice in 1994. In that case, the issue was a parcel owned by a resident ofBeit Jala. After the annexation of East Jerusalem, the parcel was located in the annexedarea, within the boundaries of the area on which the Jewish settlement of Gilo wasestablished. The High Court of Justice did mention that in cases such as these, the issue isabsence of a “technical” nature, that is, property that became absentee property only
because of the expansion of the boundaries of Jerusalem, while their owners, West Bank
residents, remained in their homes in the West Bank. The Court added that it is possiblethat these absentees could be distinguished from other absentees, but only within theframework of a claim of humanitarian exigencies that dictate release of the property
based on the absentee’s personal circumstances.217
The conclusion of the Israeli Supreme Court in the cases of both Afane and Golan wasthat the APL applies to East Jerusalem property owned by West Bank Palestinians.
Twenty years passed following the Supreme Court ruling in Afane (1986) before adifferent approach to this question was adopted by two judges of the Jerusalem District
Court. The combination of the 1970 law, the harsh provisions of the APL and the absenceof a Supreme Court ruling directing otherwise, enabled the Israeli authorities during those
years (and, actually, until this very day, excluding the few years following the Klugman
report) to apply the APL in the way described above. The extent to which the APL wasenforced was purely a matter of government policy.
Later ruling of the District Court
An in-depth examination of the question of absentee property status of property in East
Jerusalem owned by residents of the oPt first appeared in a January 2006 ruling of theJerusalem District Court in Jerusalem – the Daqaq Nuha case.218 Judge Boaz Okon
distinguished the situation of oPt residents from those who became absentees throughdifferent circumstances, and ruled that the APL cannot apply under the special
circumstances of property in East Jerusalem owned by oPt residents.
Judge Okon began with characterizing the condition of West Bank residents after 1967 as
distinct from the circumstances that informed the drafting of the APL:
This law was legislated in a specific reality, different than that which occurred in thiscase. Following the Six Day War, all residents of Judea and Samaria were undereffective Israeli control and were actually subject to the authority of Israeli law.
Particular areas, including the land in dispute between the parties here, were annexedto the area of Israel. Israeli law applies directly to them. Most of the territories
remained under the control of the military governor, who became the “sovereign”, byvirtue of international law. This sovereign is also subject to Israeli Law (High Courtof Justice 302/72 Abu Hilu vs. The Government of Israel, 27(2) PD 169). The
217
218

The matter of Golan, supra note 22, p. 646.
The matter of Daqaq Nuha, supra note 110, section 4 of the ruling.

68
  

  

residents lost control over their ability to influence the legal situation. They were
under Israeli military control and had no way to affect the definition of their identity
or the rules of law that would apply to them. In this situation, Israeli law prevailed aswell, since it was that law that dictated the rules of recognizing the sovereign and theconsequences that applied to anyone trying to challenge this sovereign. Moreover,Israel also established additional settlements in these territories, where Israeli citizens
settled and were governed by Israeli law. In this situation, it is hard to conceive thatthe law would be implemented on those residents who are located “in any part ofPalestine outside the area of Israel”, especially if these residents were under Israeli
effective control and not under hostile control.219
The Court ruled that, although most of the West Bank was not annexed, Israel
acknowledged no other authority in that area:
Application of [the Absentee] Property Law in this situation may create an ambiguous
condition, where the area is located outside of Israel for the purpose of “seizure ofrights” by Israel, without the residents located outside of Israel being defined as
residents of another, hostile political entity. This is a sort of legal trick not based inreality, except for annexation orders of particular areas. This is a form ofjurisprudence without law. From the point of view of the resident, nothing has
actually changed. The residents of this area were under the same effective control andwere subject to the same law or government acting under the same law.220
Considering this analysis, the Court ruled that the appropriate interpretation was that:
The provision of Article 1(b)(1)(II) of the [Absentee] Property Law, relating to thelegal owner of properties as located “in any part of Palestine outside the area ofIsrael”, is not applied to residents of areas that are under Israel's military control; thisis in contrast, for example, to areas under the military control of a country mentioned
in Article 1(b)(1)(I) … this interpretation supports the purpose of the law. The Law
declares that a property is considered absentee property if that property is owned orheld by one who is under the control of a different country specified in the Law.
Absence shall arise whether that man is a subject or a citizen of that country or if he isunder its control because he is “located” in it or located outside of it, in Eretz Israel,
but under effective control of that country, such as military control.221
The Court referred to the fact that its ruling does not accord with the Supreme Court
ruling in the matter of Afane. However, the Court indicated that it is necessary to reexamine this theory in light of the legislation of Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty:
True, in Civil Appeal 82/54 Levi v. Estate of the Late Afane Mahmud, 40(1) PD 374(“the Mahmud affair”) it was ruled that it is possible to apply [the Absentee] Property
219

Ibid.
Ibid., section 5 of the ruling.
221
Ibid., section 6 of the ruling.
220

69
  

  

Law to residents of the area, but the matter requires reconsideration in every case. In
HCJ 4713/93 Golan v. Custodian of Absentee Properties, 48(2) PD 638 this absence
was defined as a technical absence, and a question was raised whether it is possible toascribe weight to this when discussing the release of a vested property. Either way,since the Mahmud affair, a change has occurred in the Israeli system, and the weightof human rights, including the right to property and the right to equality, has
increased. “Any law provision – whether old or new… whose validity is maintained
notwithstanding its infringement of a human right that is anchored in the basic laws,
should be interpreted in the spirit of the provision of the basic law” (Various Criminal
Requests 537/95 Ganimat v. State of Israel, 49(3) PD 355 p. 416). Indeed, it is hard tobelieve that a court would lend a hand to such a method of taking rights from a person
who is located in an area under the control of the State of Israel (without
acknowledging some other national identity he holds) regarding an area within theboundaries of the State of Israel.222
In the spirit of the provisions of the basic law, Judge Okon ruled that the APL should beinterpreted in a manner such that the provision of Article 1(b)(1)(II), which refers to theowner of property who is located “in any part of Palestine outside the area of Israel”, isnot applied to residents of areas that are in fact under Israel's military control. “Theseizure of rights”, rules Okon, is a legal trick, made possible only by virtue of theannexation orders. The reality after 1967 is completely different than that whichprevailed at the time the APL was enacted. These “absentees” are located today outsideof the area of Israel, but they are not defined as residents of another hostile politicalentity, and they are under the authority of the same government that is active in theannexed area.
The Jerusalem District Court repeated the theory established in the matter of Daqaq Nuha
in another ruling, from May 2007 (the Abu Zahariya case).223
In contrast to the rulings mentioned above, two other rulings of the Jerusalem District
Court supported the Custodian’s position. In the first ruling, Civil Complaint (Jerusalem)
6044/04 Hussein vs. Cohen, from May 2006, the court reviewed the ruling of the Daqaq
Nuha affair and even mentioned that “the reason, as well as the spirit of justice thatemerge and arise from the ruling… are clear and precise and require no explanation”.224
However, the Court ruled that it could not subscribe to the outcome of the ruling in the
Daqaq Nuha affair. The Court ruled that the decision in Daqaq Nuha is not in accordancewith the provisions of the APL and with the provisions of the 1970 Law. The Court also
ruled that, although the decision in the Golan affair225 was handed down after theenactment of Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, where property rights were
elevated to the status of constitutional rights, the Supreme Court in the Golan affair still222

Ibid., section 5 of the ruling.
The matter of Abu Zahariya, supra note 63.
224
Civil Case (Jerusalem District Court) 6044/04 Hussein v. Cohen (published in “Nevo”, 9 May 2006),
section 15 of the ruling.
225
The matter of Golan, supra note 22.
223

70
  

  

did not change its approach (in other words, it ruled that the APL applies to East
Jerusalem).226
In the second decision, the aforementioned Cliff Hotel case from October, 2008, the court
also ruled that the stance of the court in the Daqaq Nuha affair contradicted the Supreme
Court’s position. The District Court acknowledged that West Bank residents who own
property in East Jerusalem may be considered, to a great extent, “technical absentees”
since they became absentees only because of the extension of the boundaries ofJerusalem in 1967. However, since the law of the State does not apply to the oPt, and theterm “the area of Israel” is not defined by a test of control, it is impossible to say that theoPt are a part of Israel for the purpose of the APL. In the case referred to by the Court theissue is the owner of property in East Jerusalem, who, from 28 June 1967 and, until his
death, was a resident of the West Bank and was also a Jordanian citizen. He therefore
fulfils the definition of “absentee” according to the APL. The Court pointed out that theguidelines of the Attorneys General cited above, deal only with the policy of
implementing the APL – under what circumstances the Law should be enforced – and notwith the principle issue of the Law’s application to East Jerusalem.227
As demonstrated, the District Court in the Daqaq Nuha case (upheld by the District
Court's decision in the Abu Zahariya case) ruled that the APL should not apply toPalestinian residents of the oPt who have properties in East Jerusalem. The court in the
Daqaq Nuha case based its decision on the matter of control; a person should beconsidered “absentee” only if he is located in a place which is under the effective control
of states referred to in the APL. In 1967, the occupied Palestinian territory came under
Israeli rule and, therefore, persons who reside in them cannot be considered “absentees”
with regard to property that is located in territory that was annexed to Israel. This
interpretation, ruled the District Court, supports the rationale of the APL, which intended“to get hold of property which belongs to persons that are under hostile control or thatmoved to a place under such control”.228
This interpretation was not adopted by the District Court rulings in the Hussein and Ayadcases. The Court in the Hussein ruling decreed that the interpretation that was given by
the Court in the Daqaq Nuha case was not in accordance with the wording of theprovisions of Article 1(b)(1) of the APL. Each one of the three alternatives of the Article,
asserted the Court, stands on its own and Article 1(b)(1)(II) explicitly specifies that an“absentee” is anyone who “is… in any part of Palestine outside the area of Israel”.229 The
Court in the Ayad ruling concurred and added that the argument that the residents of theoPt cannot be defined as “absentees” since they are subject to Israeli control was rejectedby the Supreme Court.230

226

The matter of Hussein, supra note 224, section 15 of the ruling.
The matter of Ayad (the Cliff Hotel case), supra note 208, section 15 of the ruling.
228
The matter of Daqaq Nuha, supra note 110, section 6 of the ruling.
229
The matter of Hussein, supra note 224, section 15 of the ruling.
230
The matter of Ayad, supra note 208, section 15 of the ruling.
227

71
  

  

The State submitted appeals on the Daqaq Nuha and Abu Zahariya rulings to theSupreme Court. At the same time appeals were submitted to the Supreme Court on the
Hussein and Ayad rulings. All these appeals are being heard together before an expanded
panel of seven justices. As mentioned, at the time of this writing, the appeals are still
pending. We will elaborate on this matter below.231
Appeals on the District Court ruling
Each of the appeals in the Daqaq Nuha, Abu Zahariya, Hussein and Ayad cases havetheir own specific circumstances, but they all deal with the same questions. First, thequestion whether the provisions of the APL apply to residents of the oPt who haveproperty in East Jerusalem. Even if the answer to this question is affirmative, the appeals
address the question of whether the APL should be exercised under these circumstances.
On 2 February 2010, a hearing on these appeals took place before the Supreme Court,
and a ruling issued, which established, inter alia:
In the panel rulings dated 26 March 2009 and 14 June 2009, the Attorney General
was asked to solve the concrete matter of the appeals before us, but unfortunately
nothing has been done in this matter until now.
When he appeared before us and presented his arguments, the representative of the
Attorney General adopted a legal position whose implementation does not accord
with the position of the Attorney General as expressed in his letter dated 31 January2005 and also does not accord with the 1968 guideline of then Attorney General Me'ir
Shamgar. According to the Attorneys General, the Law should not be implemented
regarding residents of Judea and Samaria concerning their property in East Jerusalem.
This legal position was not reflected in the actions of the authorities charged with thismandate in their handling of the matters litigated before this Court. The representativeof the State who notified us that his written response to the court was written on
behalf and with the authorization of the Attorney General, also notified us that workthat had commenced regarding this issue was halted pending the ruling given by thiscourt. The State representative’s position regarding the handling of this issue is not
acceptable. In the spirit of the Attorney General's letter, the State representativeargued that it is necessary to separate between the application of the law and its
implementation, although the practical outcome might be the same. If this is indeed
the Attorney General's view, it would have been appropriate to implement it inpractice. It appears from the appeals before us that this was not done. Given thissituation, if no solution is presented regarding the manner in which the law isimplemented by the respondents, we will consider whether it is appropriate to handdown a ruling concerning both the application and the manner of implementation of
the law, as we see fit. However, even now we opine that it is appropriate that the State
provide a practical solution to the matters pending before the Court, in addition to asolution to the fundamental question relating to the implementation of the law, which
231

Civil Appeal 2250/06 Custodian of Absentee Property and others v. Daqaq Nuha and others.

72
  

  

depends on the legal policy of State authorities according to the guidelines of its
Attorneys General throughout the years and to date.232
Accordingly, the Court instructed the State to submit a notice concerning its revised
position. The notice, submitted on 12 May 2010, stated as follows:
The Attorney General hereby announces that he accepts the honourable Court's
recommendation in its session on these files dated 2 February 2010. Therefore, thespecial committee under Article 29 of the Absentee Property Law, 5710-1950, will
discuss the release of the property that is the subject of deliberation in these files after
the submission of requests for their release by the persons who claim rights therein.
This will be carried out on the basis of the position of the State and the Custodian ofAbsentee Property according to which this property is indeed absentee property.233
Despite the wording of the notice, it certainly does not accept the recommendation of theSupreme Court. The notice of the Attorney General does not provide a solution to thespecific matters pending in the appeals, but only passes the cases to deliberation before
the committee under Article 29 of the APL. Concerning the fundamental issue, thequestion of the APL's application, the Attorney General repeats his position that the APL
applies to all property of the oPt residents. In addition, concerning the implementation of
the APL in East Jerusalem, the Attorney General seems to have abandoned his former
position according to which no use should be made of the powers given to the Custodian
regarding property of this kind, except under special circumstances, subject to priorauthorisation of the Attorney General.234
Today, ruling on these appeals is pending before the Supreme Court.

232

Civil Appeal 2250/06 Custodian of Absentee Property and others v. Daqaq Nuha and others (publishedin “Nevo”, 2 February 2010), sections 1-2 of the decision.
233
Civil Appeal 2250/06 Custodian of Absentee Property and others v. Daqaq Nuha and others, notice onbehalf of the Attorney General, 12 May 2010.
234
For this matter, see, inter alia, the Custodian’s position, as submitted to the Supreme Court within theframework of Civil Appeal 2250/06, supra note 37.

73
  

  

5.

International Law Perspective

5.1

The Annexation of East Jerusalem

Following the 1967 War, Israel unilaterally annexed 70.5 square kilometres of West Bank
land to the municipal boundaries of West Jerusalem, an area that had been administratedby Israel since 1948. The annexed territory is known ever since as “East Jerusalem”. The
annexation was constituted through Israeli legislation that applied the law, jurisdiction
and administration of the State of Israel to East Jerusalem, and extended the boundaries
of Jerusalem to include this recently occupied territory. These legislative measures wereenacted within two days at the end of June, 1967.235 In addition, in 1980, the Knesset
enacted the Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel. This law stipulates that “Jerusalem,
complete and united, is the capital of Israel”.236
Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem and the application of Israeli law to the area areboth illegal under international law237 and, as such, are not recognised as legitimate by
the international community. International institutions, including the UN Security
Council238 the UN General Assembly239 and the International Court of Justice,240 haverepeatedly stressed that the steps adopted by Israel in its annexation of East Jerusalem arein contravention of the rules of international law, and that East Jerusalem remains an
occupied territory and is not part of Israel. This position is one shared by the vast
majority of the world’s states. All countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel on
the ambassadorial level do not recognise the annexation of East Jerusalem and therefore
no states currently house their embassies in Jerusalem, despite Israel’s contention that itis the capital of the State of Israel.
As the occupying power, Israel has certain obligations toward Palestinian residents of theWest Bank, including East Jerusalem. These obligations are clearly set out underinternational humanitarian law. We will elaborate below on these obligations, inparticular those related to property rights. In addition to international humanitarian law,international human rights law is also applicable to East Jerusalem, as it is to the rest of235

In regard to the legislation that facilitated the annexation, see supra note 114.
Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel, Laws of the State of Israel No. 980, 5 August 1980, p. 186,
Article 1.
237
See, e.g., Orna Ben-Naftali, Aeyal M. Gross & Keren Michaeli, “Illegal Occupation: Framing the
Occupied Palestinian Territory”, Berkeley Journal of International Law, Vol. 23(3), 2005, 551, pp. 573574.
238
See: S.C. Res. 252, U.N. SCOR, 23rd Sess., U.N. Doc. S/8590/Rev.2 (1968); S.C.Res.267, U.N. SCOR,
th
24 Sess., U.N. Doc. S/INF/24/Rev. 1 (1969); S.C. Res. 298, U.N. SCOR, 34th Sess., U.N. Doc.
S/10338/Rev. I (1971); S.C. Res. 478, U.N. SCOR, 35th Sess., U.N. Doc. S, 14113 (1980).
239
G.A. Res. 35/169E, U.N. GAOR, 35th Sess., U.N. Doc. A/35/L.42/Rev.1 (1980); G.A. Res. 41/162C,
U.N. GAOR, 41st Sess., U.N. Doc. A/41/L.45, addendum pt. 1 (1986); G.A. Res. 49/36B, U.N. GAOR, 49th
Sess., U.N. Doc. A/49/49 (1995); G.A. Res. ES-10, U.N. GAOR, 10th Emer. Sess., U.N. Doc. A/ES10/L.5/Rev.I (1999).
240
ICJ, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory
Opinion, 43 IL M 1009 (2004), par. 78.
236

74
  

  

the oPt. Therefore, we will outline below the obligations and rights enshrined in therelevant bodies of international human rights law, as well.
5.2

The use of Absentee Property Law under the law of occupation

5.2.1

International humanitarian law and its application to the occupied Palestinian
territory

International humanitarian law applies in situations of armed conflicts, including
situations of occupation. Occupation is defined as “the effective control of a power (be it
one or more states or an international organization, such as the United Nations) over aterritory to which that power has no sovereign title, without the volition of the sovereignof that territory”.241 This definition reflects the principle of the inalienability of thesovereignty through the use of force.242 Occupation does not confer legal title to theterritory.243 The occupying power is perceived as a kind of trustee over the territory andshould administrate it in the interests of its inhabitants and its legitimate sovereign,
chosen through an international agreement or any other legal process.
Attempts by the world’s major powers to codify the law of occupation commenced
during the second half of the 19th century, and concluded with the peace conferences of1899 and 1907. The most relevant document for our discussion is the Fourth Hague
Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land of 1907 and its annexed
regulations (together referred to as the “Hague Regulations”). Article 43 of the Hague
Regulations, which has become the foundation for the establishment of the role of theoccupying power in administering the occupied territory, and reflects the temporary
nature of occupation, stipulates that “[t]he Authority of the legitimate power having infact passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all measures in his power
to restore and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unlessabsolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country”.244
Thus, Article 43 does not confer sovereign powers on the occupying power, but rather
limits its authority to maintain public order and civil life, “while respecting... the laws inforce in the country”.245 The occupant may not extend its own legislation over theoccupied territory nor act as a sovereign legislator. It must respect the laws in force in theoccupied territory at the beginning of the occupation “unless absolutely prevented”.
Article 43 is a clause of limitation, the goal of which is not to create privileges foroccupants, but rather to impose restraints on them.246 The occupying power must act in241

Eyal Benvenisti, The International Law of Occupation, Princeton University Press (1993), p. 4.
Ibid., p. 5.
243
Ben-Naftali, Gross and Michaeli, “Illegal Occupation”, supra note 237, p. 560.
244
The Hague Regulations, Article 43.
245
Ben-Naftali, Gross and Michaeli, “Illegal Occupation”, supra note 237, p. 571.
246
Marco Sassoli, “Article 43 of the Hague Regulations and Peace operations in the twenty-first Century”,
Background Paper prepared for Informal High-Level Expert Meeting on Current Challenges toInternational Humanitarian Law, Cambridge, June 25-27, 2004, pp. 5-6. Available at:
http://www.hpcrresearch.org/sites/default/files/publications/sassoli.pdf (Site was last accessed on 8 April2013).
242

75
  

  

the best interests of the local population except where prevented from doing so by
military necessity.247
In 1949, in the wake of World War II, four conventions for the protection of war victims
were adopted in Geneva. The most relevant to our discussion is the Fourth Geneva
Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War248 (hereinafter“the Fourth Geneva Convention”). Contrary to the Hague Regulations, the Fourth Geneva
Convention focuses on the protection of this civilian population, rather the facilitation of
governmental interests.249 The persons protected by the convention (“protected persons”)
are defined therein as those who, either during an armed conflict or during an occupation,find themselves under the control of an occupying power of which they are notnationals.250 The Convention, which expanded the duties of the occupying power toward
the civilian population in the occupied territory, did not replace the Hague Regulations,but rather is a supplement to them.251
In 1977, two additional protocols were appended to the Geneva Conventions: Additional
Protocol Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts(Additional Protocol I)252 and Additional Protocol Relating to the Protection of Victimsof Non- International Armed Conflicts (Additional Protocol II).253 Additional Protocol I,
which is the relevant protocol to our discussion, includes articles that deal with occupied
territories.
In addition to the codified bodies of law discussed above, sources of international
humanitarian law can be found in the common practice of the majority of states (“statepractice”), and in judicial interpretation, or jurisprudence, from national courts tointernational tribunals, such as the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which is a
United Nations organ.
Israel is not a party to the Hague Regulations. However, the International Military
Tribunal of Nuremberg has found that the “rules laid down in the [Hague] Convention
were recognized by all civilized nations, and were regarded as being declaratory of thelaws and customs of war”254, and thus they are binding on all states (including Israel),

247

David Kretzmer, The Occupation of Justice: The Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories,
State University of New York Press, Albany, 2002, p. 63.
248
Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva
Convention), 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 287.
249
Ben-Naftali, Gross and Michaeli, “Illegal Occupation”, supra note 237, pp. 564-565.
250
Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 4.
251
Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 154.
252
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection ofVictims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977.
253
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection ofVictims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), 8 June 1977.
254
IMT, The Trial against Goering, et al. Judgment of 1 October 1946, International Military Tribunal in
Nuremberg, The Trial of the Major War Criminals, (1947), Vol. 1, pp. 64-65.

76
  

  

whether or not they are parties to the Hague Conventions.255 This was reinforced by theInternational Court of Justice (ICJ) in its Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of
the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory of 2004 (hereinafter: theAdvisory Opinion in the Wall case).256 Israel has formally accepted the Hague
Regulations as customary international law, and thus has accepted their application to theoccupied Palestinian territory.257
Regarding the Fourth Geneva Convention, however, the situation is different. The leading
opinion of international law commentators is that in 1949, the Fourth Geneva Convention
represented a mixture of both treaty and customary law. However, since the 1990s, theoverwhelming majority of modern scholars have taken the view that the bulk of theprovisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention have now solidified into customaryinternational law. There has emerged a consensus that at least most provisions concerning
occupation under the Convention have been distilled into international law. This is also
the view of the ICRC's Customary IHL Study.258
Although Israel is a party to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the official Israeli
government position is that it does not apply de jure to the occupied Palestinian territory,
including East Jerusalem. This contention relies on a narrow citing of Article 2 of theConvention which, according to Israel, is only applicable to the occupation of theterritory of one High Contracting Party by another. Therefore, the Convention is notapplicable because Jordan and Egypt were not sovereigns over the West Bank, including
East Jerusalem, and Gaza respectively. This narrow interpretation of the Convention’s
provisions has been rejected by the International Court of Justice, the High Contracting
Parties to the Fourth Geneva, the ICRC commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention
and the majority of international law scholars.259
As for the customary status of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the official Israeli
government position is that it does not reflect customary international law. However, theIsraeli government has declared that it is willing to respect the Convention’s“humanitarian provisions”260 (without specifying to which provisions it refers). The
Israeli High Court of Justice has left open the question of the applicability of the Fourth
Geneva Convention to the occupied Palestinian territory, but has rather cited the Israeli

255

Yoram Dinstein, The International Law of Belligerent Occupation, Cambridge University press (2009),
p. 5.
256
ICJ, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, supranote 240, par. 89.
257
See, e.g., HCJ 606/78 Ayyub v. Minister of Defence, (1979) 33 (2) PD 113.
258
Yutaka Arai-Takahashi, The Law of Occupation: Continuity and Change of International HumanitarianLaw, and its Interaction with International Human Rights Law, Leiden, Boston (2009). pp. 59-64.
259
For further elaboration on the Israeli position and its rejection see: Ibid., pp. 47-54; Ben-Naftali, Grossand Michaeli, “Illegal Occupation”, supra note 237, pp. 567-570.
260
See, e.g., HCJ 698/80 Kawasme v. Minister of Defence, (1980) 35(1) PD 617, pp. 627-628 ; HCJ
3278/02 Hamoked - The Center for the Defence of the Individual v. IDF Commander, (2002) 57(1)PD 385,
p. 396; HCJ 7862/04 Abu Dahar v. IDF Commander, (2005) 59(5) PD 368, p. 376.

77
  

  

stance according to which it is bound by the “humanitarian provisions” of theConvention.261
5.2.2

Annexation and occupation

As a result of the Israeli application of the “law, jurisdiction and administration of theState” to East Jerusalem, the Israeli legal system has always dealt with all aspects
pertaining to the protection of human rights in the annexed territory mainly in the context
of Israeli law.
However, international law considers Israel’s annexation void; East Jerusalem remains –according to the international community – an occupied territory. Israel’s failure toacknowledge its status as an occupying power in East Jerusalem does not relieve it of its
obligations according to the law of occupation. Article 47 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention states as follows:
Protected persons who are in occupied territory shall not be deprived, in any case orin any manner whatsoever, of the benefits of the present Convention by any change
introduced, as the result of the occupation of a territory, into the institutions or
government of the said territory, nor by any agreement concluded between theauthorities of the occupied territories and the Occupying Power, nor by any
annexation by the latter of the whole or part of the occupied territory.262
Hence, the drafters of the Fourth Geneva Convention ensured that, even if the occupying
power claims the legality of its annexation, it shall not be sufficient to deprive theprotected persons of their rights as defined by international humanitarian law.263 Whereasannexation, particularly in a situation as the one in question, is completely forbidden,
modifications to the institutions or laws in force in the occupied territory are notprohibited per se. Sometimes changes may even be necessary. The main point, according
to Article 47, is that changes must not lead to protected persons being deprived of therights and safeguards provided for them.
Therefore, despite the Israeli decision to apply its “law, jurisdiction and administration of
the State” to East Jerusalem, examining the Israeli legislation and practices in East
Jerusalem in light of Israel’s obligations according to international law – in this case, inregard to property rights – is still pertinent. Nevertheless, when doing so, we have to bearin mind the Israeli case law dealing with this collision between international law andIsraeli law. The tension between these two sets of rules can be seen in the High Court ofJustice ruling in the Rabach case from 2003. The petitioners in this case claimed that the
Israeli Court of Local Affairs in Jerusalem does not have jurisdiction over issues ofalleged illegal building by Palestinian permanent residents in Jerusalem since the261

Ibid., the matter of Hamoked, the matter of Abu Dahar.
Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 47.
263
It should be noted that the reference to annexation in the Article cannot be considered as implying
recognition of this way of acquiring sovereignty (Jean S. Pictet, Commentary – The Geneva Convention
Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, International Committee of the Red Cross,
1958, pp. 275-276).
262

78
  

  

application of Israeli legislation to East Jerusalem is illegal from the international
humanitarian law perspective. The High Court of Justice rejected the petition, stipulatingthat even if the Knesset’s enactment on the subject was incompatible with internationallaw – and the High Court of Justice refrained from asserting this – the court must abideby domestic legislation.264
5.2.3

The right to property under the laws of occupation

International humanitarian law has long recognized that property rights should beprotected from most types of state intervention. However, the protections granted toimmovable property in areas under occupation vary, and are based on the type of use by
the occupying power.
The foundation of this notion is found in Article 46 of the Hague Regulations which lays
down the general obligation of respecting private property in occupied territory. The
article mandates that private property must be respected and “cannot be confiscated”.265
Thus, Article 46 forbids confiscation, namely, the permanent taking of private property
with the transfer of title to it. However, private property is not wholly exempt frominterference by the occupying power. One example is seizure of private property – atemporary possession by the occupying power of privately owned property for military
use only. It is commonly accepted that seizure of immovable private property in occupied
territory is permitted under the law of occupation.266 Military necessity is the thresholdstandard for such a taking, with the presumption that when there is no longer any militarynecessity, the property will be returned to its owners. It ought to be noted that thetemporary seizure of private land or buildings, which serves as a pretext for semipermanent dispossession of the property and de facto transfer of title to the occupant, isequivalent to confiscation, which is prohibited under Article 46 of the Hague
Regulations.267
Another example of permitted interference by the occupying power is the expropriationof private land, namely, the transformation of private property into public property for
public use, subject to adequate compensation granted by the government or theoccupying power.268 Expropriation as such is not expressly mentioned in the Hague
regulations or in the Fourth Geneva Convention. However, Article 43 of the Hague
Regulations, which obligates the occupying power to preserve and maintain public orderand safety, has been interpreted by many experts to permit the expropriation of private
264

The matter of Rabah, supra note 142, pp. 934-935. On superior authority of the Israeli domestic law incases of clear collision between the Israeli and international law see also, e.g. HCJ 2690/09 Yesh Din v.
Commander of the IDF in the West Bank (published in “Nevo”, 28 March 2010), sections 6 of the ruling.
265
Hague Regulations, Article 46.
266
See: Dinstein, The International Law of Belligerent Occupation, supra note 255, pp. 226-227. The
Israeli High Court of Justice has ruled that Articles 23(g) and 52 of the Hague Regulations do not prevent
temporary seizure of land for military needs and upon payment of compensation for the use of the property(see, e.g. HCJ 401/88 Abu Rian v. Commander of the Military Forces in Judea and Samaria, (1988) 42(2)PD 767, p. 770).
267
Arai-Takahashi, The Law of Occupation, supra note 258, p. 219.
268
Dinstein, The International Law of Belligerent Occupation, supra note 255, p. 225.

79
  

  

property when it is carried out using fair procedures and in accordance with the local
laws in force in the occupied territory prior to its occupation.269 In addition, in order for
expropriation to be legal, it should also be designed to benefit the local population within
the framework of Article 43.270
In contrast to the Hague Regulations, the drafters of the Fourth Geneva Convention did
not devote particular attention to the issue of property in occupied territories. Instead, theFourth Geneva Convention implicitly incorporated the protections of property enshrinedin the Hague Regulations,271 adding only a few supplemental provisions. One of them is
Article 53, which provides that “Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or
personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to theState, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, isprohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military
operations”.272 In addition, Article 147 provides that the “extensive destruction andappropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully
and wantonly” constitutes a grave breach of the Convention.
Settlements in occupied territory
Another important provision in this regard is Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva
Convention, which strictly forbids the transfer of civilians from the occupying power into
the territory it occupies. Violation of this prohibition also constitutes a grave breach of
the Convention,273 and has been codified as a war crime in the Rome Statute of theInternational Criminal Court, Article 8(2)(b)(viii), which explicitly states that the transfer
is prohibited whether conducted “directly or indirectly”. Although these provisions,pertaining to settlements in occupied territories, do not explicitly deal with property
rights, they certainly impact them, particularly since the establishment of settlements
requires, first and foremost, taking over land in the occupied territories and transferring itto the hands of the settlers.
The unlawful nature of the Israeli settlement enterprise throughout the occupied
Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, has been repeatedly and explicitly
confirmed by the UN Security Council and the General Assembly. The UN Security
Council called upon Israel:[...] to abide scrupulously by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, to rescind its
previous measures and to desist from taking any action which would result in269

Arai-Takahashi, The Law of Occupation, supra note 258, pp. 236-238.
See, e.g., HCJ 393/82 Jamait Askhan v. IDF Commander in Judea and Samaria, (1983) 37(4) PD 785,
p. 809.
271
Pictet, Commentary – The Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time ofWar, supra note 263, p. 271.
272
In regard to destruction of property, which is not “imperatively demanded by the necessities of war”, seealso the Hague Regulations, Article 23(g).
273
Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 147, and Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12
August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June
1977, Article 85(4)(a).
270

80
  

  

changing the legal status and geographical nature and materially affecting thedemographic composition of the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including
Jerusalem, and, in particular, not to transfer parts of its own civilian population into
the occupied Arab territories.274
The General Assembly reiterated demands “for the immediate and complete cessation of
all Israeli settlement activities in all of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including
Occupied East Jerusalem”.275
The International Court of Justice, in its Advisory Opinion in the Wall case, concluded,with regard to Article 49(6):That provision prohibits not only deportations or forced transfers of population suchas those carried out during the Second World War, but also any measures taken by an
occupying power in order to organize or encourage transfers of parts of its own
population into the occupied territory… since 1977, Israel has conducted a policy anddeveloped practices involving the establishment of settlements in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, contrary to the terms of Article 49 paragraph 6… the Israeli
settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (including East Jerusalem) havebeen established in breach of international law.276
A note on public property
The manner in which international humanitarian law relates to public property derives
from the basic conception that the role of the occupying power is to preserve existing
public and municipal institutions as part of maintaining security, order and public life.
Article 55 of the Hague Regulations states that: “The occupying State shall be regarded
only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, real estate, forests, andagricultural estates belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It
must safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer them in accordance withthe rules of usufruct”.277
According to Article 55, the occupying power is entitled to administer the property andreap its fruits; however, it is obliged to preserve the property and ensure its continued
existence. The occupying power must ensure that the capital of public property remains
unharmed. Under the usufructuary rule, the title and ownership of immovable public
274

See UN Security Council, Resolution 446, adopted by the Security Council on 22 March 1979 (S.C.
Res. 446, U.N. SCOR, 34th Sess., U.N. Doc. S/INF/35 (1979)); The Security Council has also called upon
Israel to cease “the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied
since 1967, including Jerusalem”, (S.C. Res. 452, U.N. SCOR, 34th Sess., U.N. Doc. S/RES/35 (1979)); Seealso: S.C. Res. 465, U.N. SCOR, 35th Sess. U.N. Doc. S/INF/36 (1980); S.C. 471, U.N. SCOR, 35th Sess.,
U.N. Doc. S/RES/36 (1980).
275
See: G.A. Res. 61/118, U.N. GAOR, 61st Sess., U.N. Doc. A/RES/61/118 (2007); G.A. Res. 62/108,
U.N. GAOR, 62nd Sess., U.N. Doc. A/RES/62/108 (2008).
276
ICJ, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, supranote 240, par. 120.
277
Hague Regulations, Article 55.

81
  

  

property do not pass on to the occupying power, which only acquires possession. The
absence of title also means that the occupying power is forbidden to sell it.278 What is
considered “public property”? International law provides a flexible test to this question,
which examines the identity of the formal owners of the property as well as thebeneficiaries of the property and its holders.279
In summary: In chapter 2 of this document, we noted that the APL was based on theenemy property doctrine, which states that enemy citizens’ property located in the state’s
territory is typically dealt with in some way. According to this doctrine, a country may
seize enemy property situated in its territory, in order to prevent the enemy from using it,
and vest this property in a custodian to hold in escrow until the end of hostilities.
According to at least one interpretation of this, once the property is vested in thecustodian, the original owners of this property lose their legal right to return of theproperty, and they hold nothing more than the expectation of getting their property back,when peace is concluded.280
However, as we have seen in this chapter, enemy property located in an occupied
territory is considered very different. The occupying power cannot confiscate private
property belong to enemy citizens and is legally very limited in seizing and expropriating
property. Additional sets of obligations are imposed on the occupying power in regard to
public property in the occupied territory.
5.2.4

Absentee property under the laws of occupation

In addition to the general obligations the occupying power is compelled by in regard toproperty in an occupied territory, there is a specific set of rules dealing with absentee
property in the occupied territory. International law permits the occupying power to seize
control and manage abandoned properties, as long as doing so does not negate the legal
connection of the absentee to her or his property. Moreover, the occupying power isforbidden from selling property owned by absentees.281 This notion reflects the transitory
nature of the occupation and the perception according to which the occupying powerserves as a kind of trustee over the territory. The United States Army Field Manual on the
Law of Land Warfare declares in this regard:
Property within occupied territory may be controlled by the occupant to the degreenecessary to prevent its use by or for the benefit of the hostile forces or in a manner
harmful to the occupant. Conservators may be appointed to manage the property ofabsent persons… and of internees, property managed by such persons, and propertyof persons whose activities are deemed to be prejudicial to the occupant. However,278

Arai-Takahashi, The Law of Occupation, supra note 258, p. 198.
Eyal Zamir and Eyal Benvenisti, The Legal Status of Lands Acquired by Israelis before 1948 in the West
Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, 1993, pp. 122-127[Hebrew].
280
See chapter 2 of this document.
281
Zamir and Benvenisti, The Legal Status of Lands Acquired by Israelis before 1948 in the West Bank,
Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, supra note 279, pp. 120-121.
279

82
  

  

when the owners or managers of such property are again able to resume control of
their property and the risk of its hostile use no longer exists, it must be returned tothem. Measures of property control must not extend to confiscation.282
Thus, where abandoned properties are concerned, when the owners of the property or the
persons who managed it, prior to the occupation, are again able to resume control of theproperty, the occupier must return the property to its rightful owners (in cases where is norisk of hostile use of the property). In addition, it stems from the above, that where theabsentee has a representative present in the occupied territory and managing the property
for him, the occupying power should not seize the property, unless one of the generaljustifications mentioned above for land seizure in occupied territories apply. In any case,the occupying power is prohibited from confiscating the property or selling it.
5.2.5

Applying the Absentee Property Law to property in East Jerusalem

From the international humanitarian law perspective, the application of the Absentee
Property legislation to East Jerusalem is very problematic. First, as the occupying power,
Israel may not extend its own legislation over the occupied territory, in particular where
this legislation is designed to serve further violations of international law, such as illegal
settlements, in occupied East Jerusalem.
Second, there are certainly legal grounds to consider the Israeli practices regarding theseproperties as confiscation, which is forbidden under Article 46 of the Hague Regulations.
As stressed in this document, according to the APL, the ownership rights to property
declared as “absentee” are transferred to the state and, as a result, the owners lose theirrights to the property. It therefore cannot be considered temporary requisition of the land
– which is permitted, under certain conditions, according to occupation law. In thisregard, it should be noted that respect for private property under Article 46 does not mean
merely protection from loss of ownership. For a breach to occur it is enough that theowner be prevented from exercising his rightful prerogatives vis-à-vis the property.283
The European Court of Human Rights held that even a denial of access to land, where it
is continuous, means effective loss of ownership rights over it.284 Therefore, certainly
where the owners permanently lose their rights to the property, as a result of transfer of
the title to the Custodian, a violation of the Hague Regulations has occurred.285 Vesting
the ownership rights in the Custodian is also not an act of expropriation, in particular notin this context. For example, following the transfer of property to the hands of settlers,

282

United States Army Field Manual, The Law of Land Warfare (1956), par. 399.
Krupp trial (Krupp et al.) (US Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 1948), p. 1344 (http://werle.rewi.huberlin.de/KRUPP-Case%20Judgment.pdf (Site was last accessed on 8 April 2013); Dinstein, The
International Law of Belligerent Occupation, supra note 255, p. 225.
284
Loizidou v. Turkey (Merits) (European Court of Human Rights, 1996), 36 ILM 440, 455 (1997).
285
See: Kagan, “Restitution as a remedy for refugee property claims in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”,
supra note 26, p. 451.
283

83
  

  

the property is clearly then not designated for public use, certainly not for the use of thelocal population. It is also often executed without providing compensation.286
Apart from the application of the APL to properties located in East Jerusalem, it is also
the manner in which the APL is applied which raises concerns. As mentioned above, thedefinition of “absentee” in the APL also brings into its scope many Israeli Jews, as well,whose property in Israel the Custodian of Absentee Property has never conceived of
declaring as “absentee property”. The Custodian refrained from transferring to its hands
property of settlers who reside in the occupied territory, who are also, according todefinition, absentees regarding the property they have within the boundaries of Israel andwithin East Jerusalem.287 In this regard, it has been held that property transactions, which
are based on discriminatory legislation applied by the occupying power that affect theproperty rights of private individuals, will constitute a violation of Article 46.288
Third, the Israeli application of the APL to East Jerusalem properties does not meetinternational humanitarian law standards pertaining to the specific issue of dealing with
absentee property in occupied territory. As mentioned above, according to the law ofoccupation, the Custodian of Absentee Property may temporarily seize property
belonging to absentees only in exceptional circumstances and, in any case, when theowners of such property or their representatives are able to resume control of theirproperty and the risk of its hostile use no longer exists, it must be returned to them. The
Israeli practice, according to which such property is confiscated by the Custodian and theowners lose, permanently, their rights to the property, manifestly contradicts theseprinciples.
Fourth, the usage of the APL in East Jerusalem cannot be justified by the “enemy
property” doctrine. As noted in this document, the APL was based, to a great extent, on
the British legislation dealing with enemy property.289 However, this doctrine is relevant
only to property located within the territory of a certain country; not property located in aterritory this country has occupied.290 In addition, using this doctrine may only bejustified when it is linked to armed conflict. Arguably, the armed conflict relevant tomany of those who are defined by Israel as “absentees” has already ended. Thus,
following the conclusion of peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt, it is possible to claimthat it is illegal now for Israel to continue holding property owned by Palestinian refugees
in these countries.291 As for Palestinians who own property in East Jerusalem and reside286

As mentioned in chapter 3.5, the Absentee Property (Compensation) Law of 1973 applies only toproperties owned by Israeli residents (i.e. not to properties owned by Palestinians who reside in the oPt orother Arab countries).
287
See chapter 3.1.1 of this document.
288
The matter of Krupp, supra note 283, p. 1342.
289
See chapter 2 of this document.
290
See chapter 5.2.3 above.
291
Of course, this argument can apply to property in all the territory to which Israel applies the Israeli law,
not just East Jerusalem. See Kagan, “Restitution as a remedy for refugee property claims in the IsraeliPalestinian Conflict”, supra note 26, p. 454. As mentioned earlier (see supra note 32), concerning the stateof Jordan, Article 6 of the Law for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement between Israel and Jordan
stipulates that as of 10 November 1994, a property shall not be considered an “absentee property” only

84
  

  

in the West Bank, it is worth reminding that when Israel occupied the territory of what is
known as “East Jerusalem”, it also occupied the rest of the West Bank. Whether it isIsraeli law – which applies, according to Israel, to East Jerusalem – or the Israeli
occupation regime – which applies to the rest of the West Bank – both territories cameunder Israeli administration. Thus, following the Israeli occupation, the properties andtheir owners came under Israeli control. Consequently, in these circumstances, the whole
notion of enemy property, according to which the enemy may use its property located in
the country’s territory, practically does not exist.292
In sum, there is a strong basis for concluding that the Israeli practice of applying the APL
to East Jerusalem does not meet international humanitarian law standards. As for the
specific issue of Palestinians who own property in East Jerusalem and reside in the WestBank the legal situation is particularly problematic. These people have lost their rights inthe property as a direct outcome of the Israeli decision to annex only part of the WestBank (what is considered East Jerusalem) and to apply Israeli law to the annexed
territory. This property is vested now in the Israeli Custodian of Absentee Property only
because it is located today in a territory which has become “Israel”, according to Israeli
legislation, while the owners of the property live in “part of Palestine outside the area ofIsrael” and, therefore, are considered “absentees” according to the wording of the APL.293
These residents have become “absentees” without even leaving their houses and only
because of the unilateral action of Israel, which chose to apply a different legal regime toland that it captured in 1967. The annexation, as stated in Article 47 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention, “of the whole or part of the occupied territory”, has resulted in a deprivationof basic rights that are guaranteed to persons under occupation.
5.3

The use of Absentee Property Law under human rights law

5.3.1

International human rights law and its application to the occupied Palestinian
territory

International human rights law establishes a comprehensive set of standards thatgenerally reflect an international understanding of the basic rights owed to all people andthat can be applied to all legal systems in the world. The corpus of international humanrights law – where these rights are enshrined – includes a wide body of international andregional treaties, United Nations resolutions, the “General Comments” of the assigned
UN bodies to several of those conventions, and the interpretations of national andinternational courts.

because the holder of the rights to it was a citizen or a subject of Jordan, or was found in Jordan. However,this Article is a forward looking statement only. The provision of this Article is not enough to change thestatus of absentee property that was previously declared as such .
292
In this regard, see also the matter of Daqaq Nuha, supra note 110, sections 5-6 of the ruling.
293
The Absentee Property Law, supra note 1, Article 1(b)1(ii).

85
  

  

Israel is a party to a number of international human rights treaties, including theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),294 the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),295 the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD),296 the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),297 and theConvention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).298 A question arose on the extraterritorial
application of human rights law in occupied territory, i.e. whether occupying powers are
obliged to uphold standards enshrined in human rights treaties in occupied territories inwhich they are not the sovereign government. In its General Comment 31, the Human
Rights Committee, which monitors the implementation of the ICCPR, declared that:
States Parties are required… to respect and to ensure the Covenant rights to all
persons who may be within their territory and to all persons subject to theirjurisdiction. This means that a State party must respect and ensure the rights laid
down in the Covenant to anyone within the power or effective control of that State
Party, even if not situated within the territory of the State Party.299
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which monitors
the implementation of the ICESCR, has reached the same conclusion in its Concluding
Observations on Israel from 2003.300 Similarly, the International Court of Justice, in its
Advisory Opinion in the Wall case, has concluded that, because Israel exercises effective
control over the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, it is responsiblefor implementing its obligations under the various human rights treaties it has ratified
with respect to that territory.301

294

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, G.A. Res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp.
(No. 16) at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force 23 March 1976.
295
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, G.A. Res. 2200A (XXI), 21 UN
GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 49, UN Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3, entered into force 3 January 1976.
296
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, G.A. Res. 2106
(XX), Annex, 20 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 14) at 47, U.N. Doc A/6014 (1966), 660 U.N.T.S. 195, enteredinto force 4 January 1969.
297
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, G.A. Res. 34/180, 34
U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 46) at 193, U.N. Doc. A/34/46, entered into force 3 September 1981.
298
Convention on the Rights of the Child, G.A. Res. 44/25, annex, 44 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 167,
U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989), entered into force 2 September 1990.
299
Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31, Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposedon States Parties to the Covenant, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13, 26 May 2004, par. 10.
300
Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Israel,
E/C.12/1/Add.90, 23 May 2003, par. 31.
301
See, e.g., ICJ, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,
supra note 240, par. 102-114.

86
  

  

It should be noted that, while Israel has challenged the applicability of its human rights
obligations in occupied territory, it considers East Jerusalem part of its own territory and,
therefore, accepts its application therein.302
5.3.2

The right to property under international human rights law

The right to own property is enshrined in Article 17(1) of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. In addition, Article 17(2) of the Declaration stipulates that “[n]o one shallbe arbitrarily deprived of his property”.303 However, that principle was not reiterated
explicitly in either of the covenants of 1966 which set out to give treaty-based form to theprovisions of the Declaration, which is not binding. The preparatory work for thosecovenants shows that the participating delegations failed to agree on the scope of theprinciple in Article 17, as well as on the restrictions to be applied to it.304
Yet, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) of 1966, to which
Israel is a party, does address this principle, in a broader way. Article 17(1) of the
ICCPR, grants a person the right to be free from “arbitrary or unlawful interference withhis privacy, family, home or correspondence” (emphasis added).305 Such interference cangenerally be interpreted to suggest the freedom from confiscation, unjustifiable
destruction and even unlawful eviction. Similar prohibition on arbitrary interference with
one's home may also be found in General Comment 16 of 1988 with regard to Article 17
of ICCPR;306 Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of
1948;307 and Article 16 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) of 1990.308
Additionally, a prohibition on forced evictions of lawful owners from their homes isfound in General Comment 7 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(CESCR), with regard to Article 11 of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR) of 1966, which recognizes the right to adequate housing.309

302

Israel claims that since East Jerusalem is part of its sovereign territory, the application of Human Rights
Treaties is not extraterritorial (as it claims with regards to the West Bank for example), but it is rather
territorial application of the treaties to which it is a party.
303
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. res. 217A (III), U.N. Doc. A/810 at 71 (1948),
Adopted on 10 December 1948.
304
Sylvain Vite, “The Interrelation of the Law of Occupation and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:
the Examples of Food, Health and Property”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 90 No. 871,
September 2008, p. 642.
305
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 17(1).
306General Comment No. 16 (1988) (The right to respect of privacy, family, home and correspondence, andprotection of honour and reputation (Art. 17)), UN Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1 at 21 (1994), adopted 4
August1988.
307
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 12.
308
Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 16.
309
General Comment No. 7 (1997) (on forced evictions), UN Doc. E/1998/22, annex IV (1998), adopted 20
May 1997.

87
  

  

Property rights and the principle of non-discrimination
Non-discrimination is a fundamental principle which constitutes a pre-emptory (juscogens) norm of international human rights law.310 This principle has been codified by anumber of human rights bodies. Thus, Article 2 of the UDHR provides protection of therights guaranteed under UDHR to all individuals “without distinction of any kind, such as
race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,property, birth or other status”. The same language is included in provisions of the
ICCPR and ICESCR.311
In addition, individuals are protected against discrimination by guarantees of equal
protection before the law under Article 7 of the UDHR. Article 26 of the ICCPR also
provides that “[a]ll persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to the equal protection of the law”. The CERD more specifically prohibits
racial discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to own property, the right to inherit andthe right to housing”.312
In this context, it should be emphasized, that the right to property is not an absolute right,
as the language of some of the abovementioned provisions would allow for interference if
conducted in a non-arbitrary manner (see, e.g., Article 17(2) of the UDHR, Article 17 of
ICCPR). The state can limit this right in certain circumstances, such as when it isnecessary in the public interest. Any interference must be lawful under both domestic andinternational law and a fair balance must be struck between the interest of the public andthe right of the individual property owner. Interference may be justified, for example, in
the interest of national security, public order or general welfare. However, when suchsanctions discriminate against a particular racial or ethnic group, they would almost
certainly be found to be “disproportionate” and so constitute a violation.313
5.3.3

The application of the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem in light ofinternational human rights law

The severe violations of property rights as a result of the application of the APL to East
Jerusalem have been discussed at length in the previous chapters. In this subsection wewould like to examine the application of the APL in light of the principle of nondiscrimination.
There are three primary ways in which Israel’s application and implementation of the
APL has violated the principles of non-discrimination and equal protection of the law.
310

Kagan, “Restitution as a remedy for refugee property claims in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”, supranote 26, p. 455. The doctrine of jus cogens asserts the existence of fundamental legal norms from which no
derogation is permitted.
311
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 2(1); International Covenant on Economic,
Social, and Cultural Rights, Article 2(2).
312International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Articles 5(d)(v),
5(d)(vi) and 5(e)(iii).
313
Conor Foley, A Guide to Property Law in Afghanistan, Norwegian Refugee Council and the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, September 2005, pp. 116-117.

88
  

  

First, the APL has a major role in the discriminatory regime that governs the whole issue
of property captured as a consequence of the Palestinian-Israeli hostilities. This regime,
embodied in the APL and the 1970 Law, allows Israelis to reclaim pre-1948 property inEast Jerusalem, while denying Palestinians an equivalent right to recover pre-1948
property in West Jerusalem and other parts of Israel.314
Second, the way the APL is implemented by the Israeli authorities is, by its nature,
discriminatory. As mentioned above, the Custodian of Absentee Property has refrained
from taking over properties of settlers who reside in the West Bank, despite the fact thatthey are also, according to definition, absentees regarding the property they have within
the boundaries of the Green Line and within East Jerusalem.
Third, the application of the APL to East Jerusalem facilitates an additional type of
discrimination. The involvement of the Custodian of Absentee Property in real-estatetransactions and in planning and licensing procedures generates further inequity between
Jews and Palestinians in East Jerusalem. As East Jerusalem Palestinians are extremely
intimidated by the Custodian’s involvement – which may lead to the confiscation of theirproperty – many real property transactions are not registered and many Palestinians inEast Jerusalem avoid applying for building permits and prefer to build, instead, with nopermit at all.315 These phenomena create a considerable gap between the Jewish andPalestinian communities, regarding long-term residential security. Homes built without
permits are under constant threat of demolition. Real property purchased with noaccompanying registration is much more vulnerable than registered purchases.

314
315

See chapter 4.1.2 of this document.
See chapter 4.2.2 and chapter 4.2.3 of this document.

89
  

  

6.

Conclusion

6.1

The problematic application of the Absentee Property Law to East Jerusalem

The APL is a sweeping law that severely harms individual property rights. This was trueon the day of its enactment, and its deleterious impact has only been exacerbated sinceproperty rights were granted constitutional status in Israel.
The APL was legislated under the very specific circumstances detailed above. Even at thetime of its enactment, in the wake of the 1948 War, the APL raised some serious
concerns about the actual motives of its drafters. The application of the APL in its
entirety to East Jerusalem, and the way in which it has been implemented by the Israeli
authorities throughout the years, have raised additional concerns that were addressed inthis document. These concerns are not only based on rights and general legal principles
enshrined in domestic and international human rights corpuses, but also strongly
connected to the legal status of the territory of East Jerusalem. Invoking the provisions of
the APL, property is confiscated from the hands of Palestinians, who are protected
persons in an occupied territory, in an area to which the application of Israel’s
sovereignty contravenes provisions of international law and international consensus.
The application of the APL in East Jerusalem is particularly egregious given that many of
those harmed are Palestinians who never left their place of residence in the West Bankand came under Israeli occupation in 1967. As shown, when the APL came into force, it
was applied to the area that was defined at the time as “the area of Israel”. Today, Israel
applies the APL to an area that Israel annexed many years after the APL’s enactment incontravention of international law. Vesting property in the Custodian is carried out only
because the APL technically enables it. Residents of the West Bank to whom the APL
applies did not leave their homes at all (in other words, performed no “absence”) andtheir property is sometimes only a few kilometres away from their places of residence.
Nevertheless, this property is confiscated from them only because they are located within
the area that Israel decided unilaterally to annex.
The Custodian of Absentee Property has the option not to implement the APL in East
Jerusalem. In fact, he chooses every day not to apply the APL to certain populations. As
detailed above, the definition of “absentee” in the APL brings into its scope many
Israelis, Jews, as well. However, the Custodian does not declare their property in Israel
as absentee property. The Custodian refrained, for example, from transferring to himself
property in Israel belonging to settlers who reside in the occupied territory, who are,according to the APL definition, absentees regarding the property they have within theGreen Line. This selective implementation of the APL in East Jerusalem leads, therefore,
to inequitable consequences.
6.2

The role of the Israeli courts

As illustrated above, applying the APL to East Jerusalem by way of the 1970 Law
enabled the Custodian to take over extensive property of those defined as “absentees”. To
90
  

  

date, the Israeli courts have refrained on the whole from intervening in the application of
the APL to East Jerusalem.316 This is the case even regarding property located in East
Jerusalem that is owned by Palestinians residing in the West Bank. While acknowledging
that their “absence” is of a “technical” nature, the Supreme Court has neverthelesschosen, at least so far, to adhere to the strict wording of the law and decided that the APL
should apply to these people and their property. In doing so, the Supreme Court has
arguably ignored the special context and realities of occupation. The all-inclusive natureof the APL provisions, in conjunction with the somewhat conservative approach of theSupreme Court, has given the State of Israel a green light for wide-ranging use of the
APL. During the reign of right-wing governments in Israel, the APL was implemented
more broadly, in order to take control of as much “absentee” property as possible fortransfer to the hands of the settlers – as evidenced by the findings of the Klugman Report.
In other periods, the APL was used in a more restrictive manner.
The less direct ways in which the Custodian takes over “absentee” property – throughinvolvement in transferring real property rights and in planning and licensing proceduresin East Jerusalem – were described in detail in this document. Apart from exceptional
cases, the Israeli courts accept these practices as fait accompli, as they have done inregard to the application of the APL to East Jerusalem in general. Although the courts
have criticized the Custodian's conduct in specific cases, they have not prevented theCustodian’s involvement in these procedures. On the contrary: sharing information
between the Custodian and other authorities, which leads to the declaration of property as“absentee” property, is sometimes considered constructive by the courts and a means toimprove the efficiency of the authorities.
6.3

The usage of the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem – the broader
context

Implementation of the APL in East Jerusalem inevitably results in stripping many
Palestinians of their property and housing rights. This is just one of a range of practices
employed by Israel to facilitate and bring about forced displacement of Palestinians inEast Jerusalem. Some of the more conspicuous of these practices include extensive land
expropriations for the purpose of establishing settlements,317 evictions of Palestinians
from their homes based on the 1970 Law,318 cessation of land settlement procedures in
East Jerusalem,319 imposing a restrictive planning regime, including the harsh practice ofhouse demolitions,320 revocation of the residency status of Palestinians in East

316

In this regard, the District Court's rulings in the matters of Daqaq Nuha (supra note 110) and Awad
(supra note 38) are quite exceptional.
317
See, e.g., B’Tselem, A Policy of Discrimination: Land Expropriation, Planning and Building in East
Jerusalem, May 1995.
318
See chapter 4.1.2 above.
319
See: Ronit Levine-Schnur, “Privatization, Segregation, Discrimination: The Cessation of Land
Settlement in East Jerusalem”, Tel Aviv University Law Review, Vol. 34, 2011, p. 183.
320
Marom, The Planning Deadlock, supra note 195.

91
  

  

Jerusalem,321 limitations on family unification between Palestinians and their West Bank
spouses, and limitations on registration of children born to these residents in the Israeli
population registry.322 The Israeli authorities are often criticized for initiating thesemeasures in order to reduce the number of Palestinians living in Jerusalem, and increase
the number of Jews in order to strengthen Israeli control of the city.323
These policies are not always carried out on distinct and separate channels. A certain
measure taken by the Israeli authorities might complement and assist in executing
another. The implementation of the APL in East Jerusalem, for example, is also linked toother practices implemented by Israel in East Jerusalem. As set forth above, following theannexation of East Jerusalem, Israel decided to halt all land settlement procedures in theannexed territory. In the early 2000s, the Jerusalem Municipality introduced newprocedures that introduced significant obstacles for those applying for building permits or
initiating building plans, in particular regarding property located on unsettled land or land
under settlement. Obtaining confirmation from the Custodian for Absentee Property thatthe particular property is not “absentee property” is an integral part of the procedure.324
As a result, many Palestinians refrain completely from engaging in planning andlicensing procedures. Accordingly, the decision to freeze land settlement procedures,combined with the Jerusalem Municipality procedures, have enabled the Israeli
authorities to trace “absentee property” more thoroughly. The combined effect of thesepractices and the obstacles imposed has increased the inevitable frequency of Palestinianbuilding in East Jerusalem without permits, which then engenders the Israeli response ofhouse demolitions and other enforcement measures.
The applicability of the APL in East Jerusalem, in itself in violation of international
humanitarian and human rights law and inconsistent with the original purpose of the law,leads to a series of negative consequences for Palestinians. It facilitates the confiscationof Palestinian property in East Jerusalem without any military necessity or otherpermissible justification in international humanitarian law. It promotes settlement
expansion, as much of the property allocated to the Custodian is subsequently transferred
to settlement organisations. It undermines security of tenure for Palestinians and erodes
basic human rights protections. It undermines the right to succession, as heirs may bedeclared ‘absentees’ and lose their inheritance entitlement. Fundamentally, it acts as asevere deterrent to Palestinians registering property in East Jerusalem and results in
unlicensed building to meet family need with the eventual consequence of demolition,
loss of property rights and forced displacement.

321

See, e.g., OCHA, East Jerusalem: Key Humanitarian Concerns, March 2011; B'Tselem and HaMoked:
Center for the Defence of the Individual, The Quiet Deportation: Revocation of Residency of Palestinians
in East Jerusalem, April 1997.
322
See: B'Tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, Forbidden Families: Family
Unification and Child Registration in East Jerusalem, January 2004.
323
See, e.g., Ardi Imseis, “Facts on the Ground: An Examination of Israeli Municipal Policy in East
Jerusalem”, American University International Law Review 15, no. 5 (2000), p. 1039; B'Tselem andHaMoked, The Quiet Deportation, supra note 321, pp. 8-11.
324
See chapter 4.2.3 above.

92
  

  

The coming period will be critical to the debate around the law as the Supreme Court
grapples with the logical applicability of the law to a number of West Bank residents who
have been declared ‘absentee’ from their East Jerusalem properties despite having resided
continuously in the same place for many years.

93