Why is Israel laying claim to an Arab home in Jaffa?
Government housing company: Hundreds of Arab homes have been co-owned by the state since 1948.
By Dana Weiler-Polak Tags: Israel real estate Israel news JaffaTziona Tajer Street in Jaffa, off the main thoroughfare, Yefet, begins with a lush park and ends in a narrow picturesque alleyway bounded by refurbished old homes. One of these houses, behind a heavy blue gate, belongs to the Shaya family. Hanging by the entrance is a large portrait of the family patriarch, Salim Khoury Shaya, a priest who served in the 1920s as the spiritual leader of the Christian Arab (Greek Orthodox) community. Around that time he also built the house on a hill in Jaffa.
Salim Khoury Shaya died at age 90 in 1963. His daughter-in-law, Fadwa Shaya, who married his son George, is now the eldest resident of the house, where she has lived since 1947 and where her children and some of her grandchildren grew up. In the guest room, surrounded by hand-carved dressers and ornate 1930s-era mirrors, she tells the story of the Shaya family, at least the three generations she knows.
Salim Khoury Shaya's seven children, she says, lived in the house their father built. In 1948, three of them went to visit relatives in Lebanon, where they got stuck when Israel's War of Independence broke out and weren't able to return. The other four siblings - George, Evelyn, Awda and Claire Shaya - remained in the house; their children are now in their 40s.
In 1950, after the Knesset passed the Absentee Property Law, the house was transferred to the Custodian of Absentee Property. (A 1954 Supreme Court ruling said that "the Absentee Property Law is meant to fill a temporary role: to preserve absentee properties lest they become abandoned and open to looting.") It took nine years, until 1959, for the state to recognize the rights of the four siblings who were not absentees and still lived in the house, but the authorities still did not completely give up their hold on the property.
Instead, a partnership was declared giving the state ownership of 40 percent of the house in place of the absentee siblings. The family was left with ownership of the other 60 percent. Government-owned housing company Amidar, which took over management of the property, says there are hundreds more such houses, all belonging to Arabs, that have been jointly owned by the state since some of the owners left in 1948 or later.
In the 1950s, George Shaya and his siblings tried to fight the forced partnership, arguing that before they left the other siblings sold them their stake in the house. The absentee siblings also traveled to Cyprus and signed an affidavit to this effect, but an Israeli court rejected it. In June 1960, the court turned down the siblings' request to receive full ownership of their house, and in 1963 the Israel Lands Administration received custody of 40 percent of the house. That year, Salim Khoury Shaya died.
George Shaya continued to fight for the house until his death in 1973. His daughter, Mary Kusa, remembers her father always saying that "I don't want to buy my house." She and the other children grew up, married and had families. Some still live in the house.
George's son Sami says that in the 1990s they tried to buy the state's stake in the house, but Amidar refused. Amidar maintains, meanwhile, that the company wanted to sell but that disputes in the family prevented the deal from going through.
Amidar also says that over the years the family has refused to sign a contract and pay rental fees to Amidar, even though, "by law, when one or more owners makes exclusive use of the property he must pay the owners a relative portion of the fees for use of the property."
Fadwa Shaya says the family feared that paying rent would be perceived as conferring recognition of the state's ownership of the house, so they did not pay. She also says the state did not see to the maintenance of the house, as it should have. "I paid and took care of every problem that came up," she says. "There were times when everything was falling apart and I paid for everything, even when I was a widow with four children."
The family ignored the demands for rent payments until, in June 2007, they received a demand that was hard to ignore, for a payment of about NIS 213,000 - a cumulative bill for seven years of rent (calculated at 40 percent of monthly rent of NIS 6,340). The siblings asked Amidar to look into the matter. They say the company was understanding and promised to get back to them. The family waited patiently and cooperated with an appraiser sent by Amidar to value the house; they also cooperated with the people who took measurements to see if anything had changed over the years.
In retrospect, says one daughter, Anisa Shaya, "We learned that we were fighting people who weren't really concerned about the people whose house this was. They were only interested in the business side - how much they'd get if the house were sold."
The siblings say Jaffa's rising property values are behind the move. According to Kusa, "Our feeling is that Amidar came after us. When we went to them [in June 2007] they didn't give us a straight answer and just asked for the neighbors' phone numbers. One day, my brother got a phone call from a detective wanting information about who lived in the house. Apparently they wanted to check if the house was rented and if they could demand part of the rental money."
They were even more stunned when, less than three months later, with no prior notice and without having received any answers, the ILA's development arm sued them in Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court. The authority was seeking to dissolve the partnership, which basically meant that the house would be sold. "It's a feeling of injustice," says Anisa Shaya. "First they show up out of the blue demanding money, and the next minute they want to throw us out on the street. Where is my mother who has lived in this house since 1947 supposed to go?"
The first hearing in the case is scheduled for February. Attorney Hisham Shabaita from Tel Aviv University's Human Rights Clinic is representing the family. "The state is cynically and aggressively seeking to dispossess citizens of their home that was built before the state's founding, solely because they are Arabs," he says. "The state's aim to act upon a dubious partnership in a residence, a partnership born out of the controversial Absentee Property Law ... stems from pure greed."
Kusa adds: "I have no doubt that if we were Jews the state would not be doing this. Our whole lives we have felt that we are part of this society. Even as a member of a minority I never considered anywhere else home. But it's clear to me that if I were to convert, they would behave differently."
Even now, with the echoes of their father's battle still in their heads, the siblings say all they want is to resolve the dispute and acquire the state's stake in the property. But they say the other side has no desire to reach a solution and is only interested in tapping the property's value.
Amidar, which manages the ILA development arm's assets, said in response that since 2005 it has been in contact with the family in an attempt to reach an accord over the sale of the lot, but the family has not been able to come to an agreement to acquire the property.
"In September 2007, Amidar filed a lawsuit in court over the use of the property without payment of rent to the company, in accordance with the assessment of appropriate usage fees," the company says. It says Amidar's development authority for Tel Aviv-Jaffa "would be pleased to cooperate with and come to an agreement with the family."
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Members of the Shaya family. |
| Photo by: (Daniel Tchetchik) |
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If the state wants it's back rent share they should be willing to pay their part of the the back maintenance costs, my guess it is a wash. In any case, selling the state's half of the property should be based on the time the first request was made, not today's inflation base price. But then again, who says anything is fair here.
"Does the state do the same?" Yes. What do you think happened to Jewish homes in Jerusalem and Hevron when Jordan invaded and annexed those territories? These things have to be sorted out. But I don't see how they can be sorted out if so many people insist that this is a solely Jewish/Israeli crime. Jews from Arab countries, outnumbering Arabs from Israel, have lost a lot of property to Arab states. For all I care Israel and the Arab League should simply compensate each other and be done with it.
"Well, The Jews were absent from the area since 70 C.E. - or at the very least since 136 CE. (Bar Kochba wars). So under the Absentee Property Law, they have forfeited all claims to even a cm of the land." I understand this is what had happened, which is why the Zionists had to buy the land. How do you think all those Arabs came to live in the land if not by arguing that the Jews had forfeited ownership rights? Don't forget that all these alleged crimes supported by this law happened AFTER Israel had been attacked. Before the attack, the Jews got all the land legally by buying it. And after the attack (and in Arab countries also before), Arabs and Jews got land by taking it from absent Jews and Arabs. I don't see how this becomes a crime when Jews do it.
"I challenge anyone to provide us with the name of one Israeli Jew who has had the state come in and take 40% of his property because part of the family went somewhere else and the remaining ones were charged rent." Isn't that pretty much what happened to all the Jews who fled Arab countries for Israel? I don't understand why the practice is suddenly a problem. In fact I think Israel should give the 40% of the house to the family. The family are obviously loyal citizens and not enemies. But cries of racism and condemnation of Israel over an incident that is COMPLETELY NORMAL in the Middle-East and wouldn't even get questioned by a newspaper outside Israel are nonsense. Those who point at this as a "Zionist crime" and who completely ignore that it was (and remains) common practice in Arab countries are just a bunch of worthless Anti-Semites.
This is happening quietly all over the world. It is a case of greedy businessmen counting dollars that are not even theirs, who have lots of money and power to steal from the less fortunate with teams of lawyers. Shame be on them and may the creator face them on these actions. And may decent and civilized people everywhere rise up with their votes and their letters and e-mails to condem such dishonesty
what is described in this article?
This sad story should not surprise anyone who knows about the infinite number of ways in which Israel makes life for the Palestinians a daily hell. Whether it's illegal confiscation of land, bulldozing of houses and ancient olive groves, destruction of personal property, harassment at check-points, blockades of goods and services, etc., etc., Israel concocts endless schemes to deprive an entire people of the most basic freedoms and human rights. And to add insult to injury, the Israelis manage to recast the scenario to make it appear that the victims are responsible for their woes. Oy vai!
When will the Arabs and other Muslims return any of the houses that they have stolen from the Jews across North Africa and the Middle East? When will the Christians return all of the property of the Jews that they murdered in Europe?
Shame, shame. That is all I feel as an American Jew whose Mother was born in Jerusalem and family has living there since the 1600's. Why are peope in charge of other's lives in Israel not more sensative to the needs of their citizens. Jewish people are supposed to have higher morality than others but all I read is greed and dishonesty. But as I read some of what is happening now in Israel I wonder where is that Country I lived in 1950 gone to. People living in Kibbutz Dahlia got along very nicely and coexisted with People living in Khvar Dahlia. Notice the word "People" not extremists of both ends of religious or political spectrum. At some point those who now live in the former "OTTOMAN PROVENCE OF PALESTINE AND THE BRITISH MANDATE OF PALESTINE" must regonize one another both as "People and Humans" with similar aspirations. Families, children and the fruits of providence. Oh yes a fool's dream but would that not be nice.
where do you imagine the Sansei would be? My guess, based on recent history, would be Guantannamo. Compared to putting second generation Americans in internment camps after only one year of war, after 61 years of wars, suicide bombers,Katushas and Kasams, Israel's behavior toward the Palestinians and toward it's Arab citizens has been practically saint-like.
There have been numerous cases of acquisiton of territory by force since 1945, about which the world has had very little to say: Taiwan, acquired by Chaing Kai Sheck's army in 1949, without regard to the rights of the indigenous Formosans. Tibet aquired by China in 1950 (it was an independent state at the time) Pakistan and India, who split the independant state of Kashmir between them in their various wars between 1948 and the present. India also acquired Goa by force from Portugal and annexed it in 1961. Indonesia annexed Portuguese East Timor in 1976 after invading it. Jordan annexed the West Bank, aquired by force in 1948, although they lost it to Israel in 1948. Morroco seized the Spanish Western Sahara in 1975. Then we also have the Brits retaining the Falklands by force, though the UN Assembly recognizes them as belonging to Argentina. I'd go on but I'm running out of space
Yes, pretty shameful. Now, it's 61 years since arab property was seized by israel, when are you coming out with your apology and compensation to palestinians? Oh, I forgot. You are still busy confiscating their property even in 2009.
The poor jewish lady and her suicide bombing husband's case is over a year old. Never been evicted, has she? Find me one article about a jew Amidar HAS evicted and I will concede your expertise in googling. If you can't, well we all know your expertise with the Big Lie.
"CJ the list of countries who acquired all/part of their territory by war - comprises about the entire UN" Name two who have since 1945 acquired territory by war. The UN and the law were not in existence in the days of empire building and the laws came about because of prior empire building through war. It has been illegal since BEFORE Israel became a Sovereign state. The letter to the US informing the US of Israel's Declaration of Sovereignty says this: //..within frontiers approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its Resolution of November 29, 1947, and that a provisional government has been charged to assume the rights and duties of government for preserving law and order within the boundaries of Israel, for defending the state against external aggression, and for discharging the obligations of Israel to the other nations of the world in accordance with international law.//
by war - comprises about the entire UN
who were expelled from Poland and Czechoslovakia after having lived there for 100s of years have a right to return. This was an accepted way of resolving ethnic conflict at the time Israel was created (see the Potsdam Treaty, see also Greek Cyprus.) The refugees were simply absorbed by their original groups,their property in the countries they left was nationalized and everyone got on with it. The only ones who didn't agree to this were the Arabs - and only with respect to their own refugees. They had no problems kicking out a million Jews from their countries and taking their property. This should be differentiated from the particular case of this family, whose property was not in fact abandoned.
from Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia between 1945 and 1950 (concurrent with the creation of Israel), and part expulsion occurred as a formal part of the Potsdam treaty. Many of these ethnic Germans had histories in those countries going back to the 12th century. Do you also think that that was illegal and that 12 million Germans and there descendents have a right claim citizenship in those countries? (And by the way, where are the refugee camps with 12 million people and their descendents living in misery , and where are the demands for their right to compensation?)
"It doesn`t matter if they planned to return home after the war of independence was over or not " Quite, they have a right to return to even if they didn't own land. Eeven an homeless bum has the right to return. They only had to live in a region, even if it was under a bridge "fact is they didn`t so the state takes partial ownership of the property." Fact is they were prevented by Israel from returning.
No, I use google.com, and the stories from Haaretz, (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/962660.html) and the Jerusalem post http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517302328&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull are on the very first search page The idea that Google would filter stories to reflect Israeli propaganda is ludicrous, especially since the stories about the evictions of Arabs also show up on that page. Maybe you only see what you are looking for....
"have all of these pundits ever heard of britains " enemy property acts " during ww1 and ww2 ??" This was IN Britain, on British Sovereign soil. Jaffa was never legally annexed to Israel. "what it like spouting unmitigated crap through the tops of your heads ??" Tell us...
Well, Paul, let's do a little comparison. From from 1942 t 1945 (three years before the founding of Israel) hundreds of thousands of loyal American citizens were held in concentration camps, after having been forced to sell their homes and businesses in a matter of days, at great loss. Those that were as little as 1/16th Japanese could be placed in the camps. In contrast to the Arab population, there was not one Japanese American EVER conficted of spying or acting against the US (except for those Japanese Americans caught in Japan at the outbreak of the war and forcibly conscripted) and the Nisei 442 batalian, whose members volunteered while their families were still in camps was the most decorated unit WWI. Estimates vary, but the compensation paid out to these people amounted to somewhere between 2 cents and 20 cents on the dollar, and that was 20 to thirty years later .It took the US government almost 50 years to apologize and that was after 50 years of peace with Japan
The very first story is about a Jewish woman who is 6 months pregnant with two toddlers being evicted from her home in Petach Tivah. On the same page is a story about 200 Jewish Israelis who have been paying rent to Amidar for decades being evicted from Kfar Shalem. But you can`t find any evidence of Jews being evicted? Talk about big lies.... I have googled your Amidar evicts with different country codes and all come up with the about the same results: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=Amidar+evicts&btnG=Google-Suche&meta=&aq=null&oq= As you most probably use google.il could it be possible that the results you get are selected to back the propaganda of Israel being the victim? Talk about big lies.... Check for yourself: http://www.web-l.com/country-codes/
Jewish law in a Jewish court, hard for a Muslim or Christian to win in when you are up against the a Jewish Government. I think the UN tried to rule on this but was blocked by US at the time. When Israel became a state it agreed to honor Ottoman/British land titles but Muslims owned most the land so they created the Absentee Property Law to claim the land of the refugees. Mainly Muslims but some Christians lost land with this act. Why does it matter if you live on the land as long as you pay your taxes?
britains " enemy property acts " during ww1 and ww2 ?? what it like spouting unmitigated crap through the tops of your heads ??
The very first story is about a Jewish woman who is 6 months pregnant with two toddlers being evicted from her home in Petach Tivah. On the same page is a story about 200 Jewish Israelis who have been paying rent to Amidar for decades being evicted from Kfar Shalem. But you can't find any evidence of Jews being evicted? Talk about big lies....
The very first on the list is an Israeli jewish woman in Petach Tivah, six months pregant with two todddlers, threatening to blow up her home if she's evicted. Top of next page is a story about Amidar trying to evict 200 Jewish residents who have paid rent to Amidar for decades from Kfar shalem to build skyscrapers the residents cant afford
I didn't see it in the article. Does Amidar pay its share of taxes and upkeep of the property for the trustees?
"Around that time he also built the house on a hill in Jaffa."The house was not registered with the Turkish land authority Taoo nor was the family ever registered at townhall They have the same legal status as settlers in the future PA
It's a big difference. In the US, when the govt takes land (via Eminent Domain) from the property owner, the govt pays the fair market price for that property as compensation to that owner.
Well, Lynn, there ain't no such thing as an absentee Jew seeing as they all have the "right of return" Fortunately for the isrealis, many palestinians fled their homes to escape violence during the creation of israel. After the israelis won their war, all palestinians who had fled for their safety were barred from returning; israel gave them no choice but to be "absentees" and then went on to expropriate all or part of their property. Doesn't quite jive with the American concept of propeerty ownership, does it?
Zev, you seem to forget that this family owned this house long before there was a state of Israel. They did not rent it and they owe no rent. It is Amidar that is wrong and Amidar should be forced to pay this family for the years of aggravation and worry that they have caused. I don't know if you own your own home but you surely would not want to be told that you owe some state bureaucracy years of rent. But, hey, you are Jewish so this would never happen to you in Israel.
Where is your outrage Labhras for ower 1 000 000 Jews who were robbed from their homes lands and properties from 1948.Ower 300 000 homes buisnises and land today prized at 300 BILION USD was robbed from their owners.37 000 square miles of land (4time the size of Israel) was robbed by Arabs from their Jewish owners. So Labhras I CHALANGE YOU!
When rockets come from Gaza to Sderot maybe it is because of acts like this. Maybe it is because since 1967, according to the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions, Israel has destroyed over 24,000 homes of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza alone. Maybe it is because the Palestinians who fled or who were cleansed by the Jewish forces in 1948 were not permitted to return and over 500 of their villages razed to the ground. Mea, I don't like crude rockets flying from Palestinian sources and I don't like advanced cluster bombs and white phosphorus coming from Israeli sources. But until there is justice for the Palestinians they won't give up their struggle. And the continuing destruction of Palestinians homes and actions such as this latest one in Jaffa do nothing to make the Palestinians feel better about those who now live in homes where they once lived.
One house at a time whether it is in Jaffa or in East Jerusalem, Israel has long been set on driving out its non-Jewish (read Palestinian) population. The absentee property law was just another sick device to deprive Palestinians of their property and turn those property either over to the State or to Jews. I'll bet that not one Jewish property was taken if the Jewish owner happened to be out of the country. This makes me sick. And it should make every decent thinking person sick as well. Is this what the early Zionists meant for the Jewish state to become? Thieves of property that does not belong to them?
Does the state do the same?
about that whole buying private land for public use meme. My observation about statism is absolutely correct and is in no way a tactic. Unfortunately you must have missed the whole "statist" issue which set the precedent for PRIVATE business to usurp private property for "the good of the state". Supreme Court of the US set a precedent and it is really a bad one.
I am just wondering if it was the opposite way around and the Palestinians would of won and the Jews weouldf be kicked out of thier houses they lived for generations would ppl still protest against Israel or is it only a protest when Palestinians loose in a civil law Case?
I support Israel because their blood line runs unbroken in the Holy land for thousands of years, except for a brief period between 1948 and 1967 when Jordan did a purge of the WB. You call Arabs the "natives"??? The number of Arabs who could trace their heritage in the Holy Land over 100 years is tiny. Microscopic. To get a better perspective, see http://tinyurl.com/yz56smw Since you seem to subscribe to the theory that the most recent inhabitants should prevail, then you should be the first to endorse Israel.
You challenged anyone to google "armida evicts" and they would "find plenty of inhumane evictions of Jews too". Is this more of the israeli policy of repeating a lie often enough and it will be believed? I googled and the first two pages were 200 palestinians evicted here , 497 evicted there. Not a word about israelis. Why? Is it that you remember some past inhumane eviction of say ethiopian or russian jews? I googled "Amidar evicts jewish family" and again found only arabs being evicted to make way for jewish families. So what's your game?
i DO believe it's required to be "clearly shown" as being in the public's interest. public works such as highways, bridges, etc, are almost a given. private enterprises like malls, stadiums, and the like are often contested in court; with mixed results. although admittedly, it's sometimes hard to beat it when a city or state is pushing it as an economic benefit. but it's also used sparingly, and is not even remotely similar to israel's "absentee property law". even in cases where unkept properties are confiscated, owners are forewarned and given deadlines for compliance. on the other hand, this law of israel's was actually created as a means for the state to "legally" confiscate the land of people who fled the war in 1948, and who it prevented from returning. did the same to those who fled in '67, and it's doing it again today, to palestinians who leave the west bank for studies, to work abroad, etc...
Those "immigrants" that are coming to Israel are descendants of Jews who pre-dated Palestinians by thousdands of years, were then subjected to occupation, were then expelled and for mellinia were persecutedm battered and murdered before they came back to a state occupied by Pals who knew full well the history of the region and who rode the coatails of the Islamic conquest of the region in the 7yh or 8th century. Not only did they do that but they also over the centuries made every attempt to eliminate the small Jewish population that lived there continuously since there forefathers were expelled. They even went further by joining in Hitler's design to clense the world of all Jews, as in the Arab brigade organized by the Mufti of Jerusalem. Yes, this Jaffa issue is unacceptable bubut so too is the Arab stance on Israel and Arab treatment of Jews, historically and currently.
Zionist forever, if you've read these talkback threads over the years you will know that I'm committed to the Jewish state, believe that the distinction between anti-zionist & anti-Jewish is very substantially bogus & believe that Israel has every right to exercise vigorous self defence. But that doesn't mean that all the policies of the State are beyond reproach. The fact that Jews will not get their lands back in Arab countries or compensation is an outrage that the Jewish state should not emulate. Ownership of this home has descended to someone in this family or to someone who is entitled as a result of succession law. There is nothing about the fact of absenteeism that justifies state appropriation of property, especially when family members have lived in the home for the entire period. If the state wants the property it should pay for it & if the reason the state wants the property is to diminish the Arab presence in Jaffa, that is constitutionally impermissable discrimination
Terrible. Will the Israeli government give the 40% of the money to the Palestinians in Lebanon when the house is sold? If it doesn't, the absentee property law is state organised stealing.
Well, The Jews were absent from the area since 70 C.E. - or at the very least since 136 CE. (Bar Kochba wars). So under the Absentee Property Law, they have forfeited all claims to even a cm of the land. David
Absentee propert law? I would have tought that they would have something more common since they claim to base thier legal sysytem more on English and American legal principles and procedures.
Labradas, I don't work that way. Granted there are some injustices, but in the last fifty years Jews and Arabs have learned to live together reasonably. You want to fix your car, you go to . . . Young people from the Arab town want to get away from peering eyes of their elders they go to Mall across the road from the Court House. As well, our local buses are run by a company that has its headquarters in . . . the Arab town. Other than that, as a result of the tension between Christians and Moslems over the "Mosque", many Christian Arabs bought homes in Upper Nazareth. It's an issue for some Jews, and for some its a fact of life they have decided to accept. So, compared to your Belfast, Upper Nazareth is quite a pleasant place to live.
Israels property laws are not tough enough. Arabs in towns like Yaffo don't want to sell to jews because they don't want jews taking over the town so instead they sell to rich saudi businessmen and if they want to resell it then they make sure they sell to an arab. Its the same with the Galilee there even jews who have fallen on hard times have sold their land to saudi businessmen who then make sure that land stays jew free. We need laws preventing foreigners buying property in Israel unless they are from a certain approved list of countries ( kind of needing a property buying visa which certain countries are exempt from ) Even then there should be limits to what they are permitted to buy without special permission from the state. Thats the only way to keep Israel jewish and not have them as tenants who can be evicted in an arab owned country. The arabs cannot destroy Israel with guns now we must make sure they cannot destroy it with their checkbooks.
All battles ever waged in the holy land were waged between its impoverished inhabitants with justice on their side and mighty invaders with power on their side. And every wave of invaders claimed to be Gods chosen people. In the name of God the land of God gets irrigated with the blood of its inhabitants,time and time again. No one ever learns nor seeks to understand the curse that always come back and hunt these lands inhabitants.
It doesn't matter if they planned to return home after the war of independence was over or not fact is they didn't so the state takes partial ownership of the property. In 1948 jews started coming to Israel they are not the ones who were running away to avoid a war so jews don't experience any problems as a result of the absentee property law. Will the jews who were forced out of arab countries by force ever going to be permitted to take their property back? The fact the children LIVE in the house doesn't mean that they legally OWN it. Unless it was legally passed to them in an official will then residency & being decended from the owners doesn't make them the new legal owners. The only ones with any LEGALLY RECOGNIZABLE ownership rights on this property is the government and its 40% share. The need to provide LEGAL DOCUMENTATION proving that the decendants are now the legal owners of the other 60%. Sometimes the law isn't fair but its law & applies to everybody in that situation.
The Absentees never hired Israel to manage their shares. Alternatively, Let the Absentees Return to claim their Property. Anything else is Pure theft and will not stand up in an international court of law.
that's what Israel has been working for since 1948 , kicking out all the natives replacing them with immigrants !! I dont know how others support Israel and call the natives terrorists for resisting the occupation ????
I challenge anyone to provide us with the name of one Israeli Jew who has had the state come in and take 40% of his property because part of the family went somewhere else and the remaining ones were charged rent. Pure gansterism---much like the crooks who extort money at sporting events to "NOT" damage your car. This just another scam to expropiate land from Palestinians. It is now almost a daily occurrence. You must be new to this conflict. Stick around--the Jaffa epsiode is minor apples.
Your post is an example of one of the usual tactics of Israel supporters: an attempt to equate what goes on in Israel with what goes on elsewhere. Eminent domain means that the state can force owners of private property to sell if their land is needed for some public purpose. What is going on here is that the owners are driven out without compensation if they are not Jewish. As non-Jews, their property rights are denied. Not exactly the same.
built on. The state of Israel has a long term lease for that land from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, which owns it.And folks, since according to Walid's post we can infer that Israel stole that land from his Dad, I would say that's a comment about the level of accuracy that some of the respondents here have adherred to in generalizing from this particular case which is clearly a misapplication of the law by Amidar, a company not known for its humanity (google Amidar evicts - you'll find plenty of inhumane evictions of Jews too) to the Palestinian cause in general. For those claiming that this is a prime example of how 'racist' Israel stole the lands of innocent Palestinians in general, let's not forget that there would have been no refugee problem if the Palestinian side had accepted the partition plan, and that in this case in particular, this family will have full recourse to the law. So let's wait and see who wins before we condemn Israel as a racist apartheid, shall we
It is unconscionable to justify the conduct of the state. More and more, it is becoming evident that Israeli Palestinians are subject to the most vile types of racism. Don't try to justify it by claiming Arab discrimination against Jews. Since when does that excuse racism. Damn, it is hard to be a Zionist these days. Stop racism!
But this means that the family is the owner, not the state, were it not for the statute that gives the State temporary rights. That statute is, unless I'm missing something, unacceptable. When there is co-owernship, even if some of the owners abandon their rights, the remaining owners should simply get a larger share. That is certainly the common law. And, if there is no abandonment, co-ownership principles, (a) don't prevent those living in the house from living in the house and (b) don't prevent those living in the house from going after their co-owners to reimburse them for the burdens associated with that ownership. The state has no justifiable role except as adjudicator. In short I see no justification for this law, none. The fact that Pals and Arabs may have on previous occassions stolen Jewish land is no reason to visit that sin on this family. I fully expect that this injusitice will be rectified, unless I'm missing something. If I am, I would like to be told what it is.
Supremes decided the State can take anyone's land under the law of eminent domain. No matter if it is for state use (ie freeways) or private developers. Set a very bad precedent for sure. At first it was used to condemn unkempt properties fallen into major disrepair. Later used to confiscate property for new developements by private businesses. It isn't racist, just major greed by the State.
I'm somewhat confused as to the reason why anyone else would own 40% of the property to begin with. As an inheritor of property from my mother, I was allowed to assign all my rights over to my father. It seems this was done legally in Cyprus by members of the family. Why would the state deny this? It doesn't make sense to me.
It reminds me of the policies of the German authorities in 1938. Cloaked in legalistic jargon but basically the same policy. The slow and ongoing expulsion of native non-Jews from the Israeli property market. It seems that it is not only happening in Jerusalem.
As an Israeli Jew, I feel shame and disgust every time I read an article such as this. Israel's image in the world is bad enough, but it seems that for the government Israel's image means nothing. Just let them take more and more land - that's all Netanyahu and co. really care about. If Israelis knew just how bad Israel's image is in western countries, particularly among young people, they would stop for a minute and think.
Arabs in Israel are like blacks in Mississippi in the 1960's. How can Obama of all people continue to support Israel???
you appear to ignore the FACT that this has happened to not 1 arab family but to 1.5 million palestinians, who were driven from their homes, the homes razed, their fields and orchards destroyed and then built over or replanted with forests. Their reaction by kassims and suicide bombing is quite understandable, since nothing else has worked. You may not like the thought of being on the receiving end of terror attacks, but it's the people you support that caused the circumstances that bred them.
If the German governement would have such scandalous "Absentee Property Law" and would have never reimbursed the jews who had property in Germany before the war what would the jews say------------------ Does the court in Israel have the courage to act in a way that means greed, dishonesty and almost robbery. I am jewish myself and I grew up in Israel and I have known one sibling of the family Shaya and let me tell you they are very honorable people I wish myself there would be more such hight quality citizens as the shaya family in Israel.
this' tell that to the ten thousand Jews thrown out of Gaza, and those who tried to reclaim Jewish land in Chevron stolen by arabs during the 1929 pogroms only to be kicked out again and lied to by the Israeli government.
Same here ,our land ,as my dad says, was like heaven to him before being stolen to build the Kenesset on it !! what can we say ?? Injustice
did shaya leave a will ? did he die intestate ? nothing passes automatically to afamily and if the land was registered it had to be re-registered showing ownersghip by deed! occupation is not ownership !
I hope that the courts will return this house to its rightful owners, that is, the descendants of its builder, Salim Khoury Shaya. Surely this injustice wasn't the intent of the creators of the Absentee Property Law. Or was it? This reminds me of famous author who has recently been in the headlines down there - Franz Kafka.
Kangaroo justice convicted while living as an Arab, my family never abandoned its property,our 200+ acres would make nice farm but Kibutz Bet Haemeck set on it after its rightfull owners were evicted under the sound of bullets
"It took nine years, until 1959, for the state to recognize the rights of the four siblings who were not absentees and still lived in the house" theres the law for you Zev.....now are you going to respond to Labhras and his comments on YOUR town?
after they kicked out 750,000 Arabs from their homes. That is the story sam. And those Jew need to sue the states they were alledgedly thrown out of---not take it out on Palestinians who had nothing to do with that alleged crime.
Let the International Court of JUSTICE see how many unfair things are now happening in this Democratic Country. So if you are a family of 7, four goes to study in US, two of your daughters married and have to leave home for that of their husbands. so if six of them is not residing at home for the time being,Is that mean that BIG BROTHERS came over and Claim 60% of the house ?, So what would happen IF their marriages broke down and would like to go back home? are they considered HOMELESS from their own Property. Is that mean that they should not further their education or married when living in DEAR JAFFA? What about The grand children coming to their ancerters Home? WIll they be allowed.? TELL ME DOES THIS SORT OF THING HAPPENING TO JEWS LIVING IN JAFFA and SPENDING YEARS IN OTHER COUNTRIES?
When you think that there lots of Chritians that back Israel Behaviour.
It make me sick to read this article. In any country one pay for Council Tax but not in Jaffa,where if your family are away for whatevr reasons, they are considered ABSENTEE/(loosing their right of return, and a gain to the state) Bizarre but. Wonder why the International community hate US. really I'm now a confuse JEW, and sad for this FAMILY. May GOD help them.
Q - Why is Israel laying claim to an Arab home in Jaffa? A - The answer is quite simple. Because the Bible states that G*d gave everything in the Middle East to the Jews.
your logic is impeccable...to wrongs make a right..where do these people come from?
"According to historian Geremy Forman, Like other Jewish settlements in the Galilee, an important aim of Upper Nazareth was to ensure Jewish state control and sovereignty in the region. According to IDF Planning Department Director Yuval Ne'eman, the new settlement would "emphasize and safeguard the Jewish character of the Galilee as a whole, and ... demonstrate state sovereignty to the Arab population more than any other settlement operation." More specifically, Upper Nazareth was meant to address the challenge perceived as emanating from the all-Arab city of Nazareth. It would do this not by achieving a Jewish majority within the city of Nazareth itself, but rather by quickly evolving from a neighborhood into a city and eventually overpowering Arab Nazareth numerically, economically, and politically. According to Northern Military Governor Colonel Mikhael Mikhael, the final aim of the settlement was to "swallow up" the Arab city through "growth of the Jewish population around a hard-core group" and "the transfer of the center of gravity of life from Nazareth to the Jewish neighborhood."[4]
This is outrageous!!! Its up there with the case of the young Arab toddler who was refused a spot at a day care center, simply because she was an Arab. I can only hope that the People of Israel demonstrate their outrage at such an injustice, in the same way the Israeli people confronted that northern community that denied the toddler a spot on their day care roster!
"absentee property law"... what a nefarious scam! it was created specifically for the purpose of state acquisition of palestinian land. people who fled the conflicts of 1948 and 1967 were prevented, by israel, from ever returning. imagine taking your family and fleeing the ravage of warfare, only to find that once it was over you could never return to your home. israel enacted this law to "legalize" its theft of their properties. and it really works well with current israeli policy too, which denies palestinians the right to return to occupied territory once they've ventured abroad. their property can then be declared abandoned, and the state takes it over. but this story adds an even MORE vile element to an already nefarious scam! even though the property was still occupied by the family, the state awarded itself a percentage for those who had been away when the conflict erupted, and who were prevented from returning BY the state? you've got to wonder about the lack of scruples, and basic human decency, that lies behind not only the creation of this law, but its continued enactment by the state of israel. and yet it has the chutzpah to proclaim its morality?
A red light of shameless prostitution of other's rights, while demanding its own rights to be recognized by all.
Imagine a law whose effect was that if you separate from your spouse and they leave the country the state gets half your house while you are still living in it - in order to prevent it from be abused as abandoned property! This should go to the high court, and this family should get the 40% back plus compensation for suffering.
Let's not beat around the bush: the Palestinians in Israel have no rights and the state is actively stealing their land, their houses and any other possessions. Most people know about the apartheid regime in the occupied territories, just a few know about the more subtle apartheid laws in Israel proper. Israel will not see any peace if this state crime continuous to be sanctioned.
What?s happening to this Palestinian family gives us an excellent example of what the Palestinians have been going through for the last six decades on a daily basis, their land and homes being stolen in front of their eyes !
City of Oranges is an excellent history of Jaffa and this issue. Like any story there is more to the story than could possibly be told in a newspaper article. I highly recommend this excellent history on Jaffa, which does a balanced job of what has happened there.
why dont you tell the story of tens of thousands jewish homes that were robbed by the arabs after they kicked out the jews ??
A big SHANDA!! Is this an example how Israel is to be "A light to the nations"? For the sake of human justice I pray that this issued is speedily resolved on favor of this Arab family so that we Jews may hold our heads high for doing the right thing. Amen.
support for Israel would completely evaporate.
All sorts of status quos are being pitched off the radar, one by one. Radicalizing those who were not radicalized seems to be top of the agenda. Unfortunately for the government, the disease is catching and unlike the government, it doesn't distinguish between races and creeds. Watch how Jerusalem is igniting and look at where. Oops, it's Har haHotzvim that's burning, not Har Habayit. Miscalculation?
Having read the text of this new item it seems to be that, one, if the all the family members stood firm on their rights to the house, and, they had paid their rent, they wouldn't have been hassled by Amidar. There are rules in this country for people who don't pay their rent to the Public Housing Authority. They apply to every citizen of Israel. Obviously there might be some instances where this is not "the land of all its citizens", but in the case of Amidar, it is. Seems to be the Arab family owes back rent, and, if they were willing to settle there would be no problem. However, they are stickin' to principle. As they say, "Sometimes it's better to be smart, instead of right!"
Your harem scarem tact is amusing, dear. There have been no war crime charges. As you may have noticed, every major non Arab country in the world fell all over themselves trying to back away from the Goldstone Report. Here is what "ordinary Israelis" know best: There are legions of bleeding heart hairbrains who do all there politically correct HR work using Electronic Intifada and Palestine Times as their resource base for information. Israelis live with the truth of the real intentions of the PA, Hamas, Hezballah, Iran and Baby Assad everyday, little one, and what they base their livelihoods upon are the words and the deeds issued from those camps against innocent people inside Israel. Hairbrains such as yourself never noticed the 8,000 rockets launched into the Sderot area, which maimed and killed. Somehow it is alright w/you that Jews get killed. Ask yourself why and discover a dark personal secret about yourself the rest of us already know.
This is incomprehensible, it is time that someone clips the the land administration's wings. Israel's high court should take it upon itself to review the earlier rulings and rectify a big injustice. This is revolting. If anything the Shaya family should receive restitution for the 59+ years of misery they were put through.
This is a very sad situation. This company Amidar should be shut down. They seem to be at the heart of every injustice in the country. They make the news too often... And this law has been unethically applied to this poor family who deserve a chance to live without the government trying to take the roof from over their heads!
Force. Of. Habit.
after barely reading the text will post comments that the 'company' is right, "its the law" etc etc.. "if I were to convert, they would behave differently" don't be so sure! some people here would never ever recognize your conversion. And not letting the family to return from Lebanon is another law broken, but thats ok eh?...
it will one day have to pay to the Palestinians? That day will come, along with the war crimes charges that will end up in the Hague. Ordinary Israeli's should concern themselves with that fact. Don't be one of them.
These grandchildren of a former Palestinian Christian cleric are entitled to that home. It is ridiculous that Israel thought it had the right to own 40% of the house when rightful inhabitants were there. Seriously, the amount of racism this entails is sickening. These are even Israeli citizens. Imagine throwing also an old lady who lives there out on the street! I am so glad I am not born an Arab Christian or Muslim citizen or non-citizen of Israel because no one wants to be a victim of such anti-Semitism that these Palestinians face even if they are Israeli citizens. I also feel sorry for the Israeli people for not putting a stop to such actions. Everyone is a victim of such thinking. We are all human beings, and need to heal and live in peace.
... and official Israel apparently ploughs on generation-after-generation assuring these home-owners that they will never have peace, come-what-may... is that what has come to epitomize us?... anything but peace...
gov. you should be ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!
gov. you should be ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!
E-mail them at company@amidar.co.il and yaacov.brosh@amidar.co.il
Supporting a monster in the middle east. If America is a friend of Israel , thats a statement about the injustice and unfairness of America
There are some truly evil bureaucrats, actually generations of them. Reparations need to be made and a better future guaranteed.
Israel maintains a facade of legality, but its laws are contrived to take Arab land whenever possible. This is not justice. The Palestinians have suffered greatly at the hands of Israel.
Sure, Amidar thinks the family members in Lebanon are just waiting for Amidar to pay them the "rent" that Amidar claims is due them. Amidar, if called to account would claim all the "rent" in administrative fees. The court should, but probably won't rule that Amidar is just a scheme for taking properties and dispossessing people. It has nothing to do with holding properties in trust for those whom Israeli politicians have sworn will never be allowed into Israel or return to their homes.
It would be hard to find a more prima facie case of religious discrimination. In a number of languages there is an insult where you call a person "without shame" because not only will they engage in such behavior, but they are not even ashamed to admit it.