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Last update - 00:00 13/02/2005
Four Israelis arrested for trying to sell Palestinian land
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent

Police investigators arrested three suspects last week - including a member of the Likud's Central Committee - on suspicion of planning to use forged documents to sell land belonging to absentee Palestinian owners to an American millionaire.
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The three allegedly planned to sell land amounting to 92 dunams (about 23 acres) between Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Beit Sahur for $10 million, according to Superintendent Aharon Gilor, head of the police fraud squad's northern division.

At the start of last week, police arrested Issa Safouri, a 34-year-old Nazareth resident and a member of the Likud Central Committee who is thought to have made of use of forged documents and located the American buyer.

Police also arrested Ahmed Shibli, a 68-year-old Upper Nazareth resident, at a civil law office in Tiberias, along with a woman. The two are suspected of forging the documents showing supposed ownership of the land.

During the course of the investigation, Yusuf Zuabi, a 50-year-old Raina resident, was also arrested. He allegedly agreed to pose as the owner of the land in front of the buyer and to complete the transaction without exposing his two partners. Zuabidenies the allegations against him.

Acre Magistrate's Court remanded three of the suspects until Monday. The woman, who is married to a resident of a Nazareth-area village, was released because she is in a late stage of pregnancy.

Police noted that the investigation is still in its initial stages, and that they are attempting to determine if there are additional suspects.

A source close to the investigation stated that the American buyer was not at all aware of the planned forgery, and that he agreed to purchase the land in order to transfer it to an organization active in the Jerusalem area providing housing to Jews.

Investigators are checking whether Safouri exploited his connections in planning the transaction and finding a buyer.
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