The Israel Lands Administration (ILA) decided to cancel tenders for 13 plots of land in the northern city of Carmiel on Monday pending a High Court of Justice decision on whether land sales may be sold exclusively to Jewish buyers.

The government-owned company limited the land sales to residents who have lived in Carmiel for at least three years. The Arab Center for Alternative Planning (ACAP) sent a letter of protest to the ILA last week, arguing that this effectively excludes Israeli Arabs from purchasing the land as Carmiel is home to few Arabs.

The ILA decided to cancel the tenders, despite the fact that it denied last week that the restrictions bar Arabs from purchasing the land and its prior insistence that it would not consider canceling the tenders.

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The ACAP petitioned the High Court regarding Jewish-only land sales in 2004. The issue is still under discussion in the court and a hearing is expected later this month.

Other organizations, like the Jewish National Fund, have also frozen all land sales designated exclusively for Jewish buyers until the High Court decision is announced.

In 2004 tenders for some 26 plots of land in the same Carmiel area were advertised but quickly withdrawn after ACAP group filed the petition.