How Israel ‘transfers’ land from Palestinians to settlers

Kamel Hawwash a British/Palestinian engineering professor based at the University of Birmingham and a long-standing campaigner for justice describes how “Israel certainly knows the concept of fair play, but that is far from evident in the numerous nefarious ways it obtains land from Palestinians”.

How much of Israel’s territory is confiscated under the absentee law is uncertain. However, the Independent’s Robert Fisk reported that when he interviewed the Israeli Custodian of Absentee Property, he estimated this to be up to 70 percent of the territory of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israel as a state and those organizations set up to increase the population of Jews living in the occupied Palestinian territories together use a combination of laws, forgeries, deceptions and outright brute force to take over Palestinian property to increase the presence of Jews, especially in East Jerusalem and Hebron.

As the French work to convene an international peace conference to restart another round of futile talks between Palestinians and Israelis, there will be talk of confidence- and trust-building measures to create an atmosphere that helps both sides make the “necessary concessions”. Israel could start with ending its determined effort to replace Palestinians with settlers, suspend the absentee property law, and return the Abu Ta’ah land to its rightful owners.
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