Sunday, September 27, 2009

Zionism calls it reform

"First, the privatisation means that land previously managed by the state after it was expropriated from Palestinians by past Israeli governments will become the property of private owners. This despite the fact that these mass expropriations were carried out ostensibly for a "public" purpose, and therefore should revert to their original owners once the original reason for the state's expropriation is no longer relevant. The reform will also "lead to privatisation of property of some of the lands of destroyed and evacuated Arab villages, as well as many properties belonging to Palestinian refugees" – property currently held by the state's Custodian of Absentee Property. As Adalah, the Arab rights legal centre, put it, this privatisation of land "will lead to a total break of the link between the land and its original owner", while "the sale of absentees' property" is not only a breach of the Geneva convention, but also "contravenes" Israel's own Absentee Property Law." (thanks Dina)