The “Jewish National Fund” plans to seize about 2,500 dunams of land in the occupied city of Jerusalem, claiming that it owned these lands before 1948, in a dangerous step aimed at expelling thousands of Palestinians from their homes in the city, and expanding settlements.

An Israeli human rights association specialized in Jerusalem issues said: “The board of directors of the National Fund will meet next week to discuss and approve a budget of 100 million shekels to take measures to register vast areas of land.”

The documents of the fund reveal – according to the left-wing “Ir Amim” association, that “these lands include at least 2,500 dunams in East Jerusalem that are said to have been purchased before 1948. These lands are under the auspices of the Israeli General Guardian, and the Fund can claim them based on the legislation The discriminatory law of 1970 that allows the acquisition of property in the city, in which Palestinians live, based on the alleged Jewish ownership claim before 1948.”

manipulation and piracy

Commenting on the Jewish scheme, the head of the Jerusalem Authority Against Judaization, Nasser Al-Hadmi, said in an exclusive statement to “Safa” agency that this scheme is very dangerous, and relies on manipulation and piracy with the aim of seizing Palestinian lands in Jerusalem and evacuating them from it, claiming that these Jewish organizations own these lands.

Al-Hedmi explained that the “Jewish Fund” says that it has information about land ownership, and the Jerusalemites’ possession of identification papers in these lands, as some residents of the town of Beit Hanina applied earlier to issue a new organization for the area, but the occupation authorities demanded that they present identification papers.

He indicated that the Israeli goal is to expose those of Jerusalemites who do not have identification papers proving their ownership of these lands, which constitutes a weak point for seizing them.

He pointed out that the occupation issued eviction orders to the Jerusalemites in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, claiming that the settlers possessed papers proving their ownership of these homes, but it was discovered that these papers were forged, based on information provided by the “Jewish Fund,” as they do not have any real papers.

He added that the “Jewish Fund” seeks to exploit the information it has in order to register and steal these lands with Jewish property, and not to return the properties to their original owners.

According to Al-Hadami, the occupation is targeting different areas in Jerusalem, such as Al-Sawwana, Beit Hanina, Shuafat, Sheikh Jarrah, and Beit Iksa, and the lands on which some settlements were built, among others.

settlement expansion

Al-Hedmi warned of the dangers and repercussions of seizing the lands of Jerusalemites, stressing that this would lead to a fierce settlement attack in Jerusalem, changing the reality, and rapidly expanding the outposts.

He stressed that the occupation authorities are working hard to exploit the time and the current reality in order to work on developing settlement construction in the Holy City.

He pointed out that Israeli law allows only those who hold “Israeli citizenship” to recover their rights and property, while Jerusalemites are not allowed to recover their property and lands that were lost in the occupied territories in 1948 during the Palestinian Nakba.

In the context, the “Ir Amim” association indicated that “in the past years, the National Fund has participated in eviction claims against Palestinian families who live in homes claimed by the Fund, and this was sometimes carried out with the complicity of settler organizations such as Elad, as in the case of the Simrin family in Silwan. It is currently before the courts.

She stated that 75 Palestinian families on an area of ​​35 dunums are currently threatened with eviction from property claims filed by settler organizations in Sheikh Jarrah, in addition to 85 families on an area of ​​5 dunams facing a similar threat in Batn al-Hawa in Silwan.

It warned that transferring 2,500 dunams of land from the “General Guard” to the “National Fund” would lay the groundwork for thousands of possible eviction requests, calling for an immediate halt to this decision.

The Israeli “Peace Now” movement had warned of the dangers of a scheme that the fund intends to implement, which would lead to a major expansion of settlements in the West Bank, and the expulsion of hundreds, perhaps thousands of Palestinians, from their homes in Jerusalem.

“Land registration” means searching in the records of the National Fund for lands and deals that were not completed or registered in the Land Registry Office before 1948, and an attempt to complete and register them, according to “Peace Now.”

She added that “registration procedures in the occupied territories and East Jerusalem will lead to widespread dispossession of Palestinians, as is the case in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods, of property and settlement expansion.”

Safa