The land shall not be sold forever

On the Knesset Web site, the Basic Law on Israel Lands (1960) states: "The ownership of Israel lands, being the lands in Israel of the State, the Development Authority or the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael [Jewish National Fund], shall not be transferred either by sale or in any other manner." Along comes a ministerial committee headed by the new prime minister, which hastily decides that Israel's lands will henceforth be marketed for sale and not for lease. Once again, the cabinet - a ministerial committee decision, as is known, is the same as a cabinet decision - has not responsibly and comprehensively scrutinized the initiative's significance.

The Israel Lands Administration needs basic reforms. But the decision to sell and not lease lands has far-reaching national-Zionist implications that could bring about grave fundamental changes. Not only is the decision a clear infraction of a Basic Law, it goes against one of the Jewish people's most ancient national and religious laws, the prohibition against selling the nation's land, even to its own people.

There are good Zionists on the ministerial committee (begging your pardon, Ariel Atias of Shas), but the burning desire of the prime minister (who spearheaded the initiative) to prove that he is carrying out without delay the "reforms" he promised, has led to a decision that, if no dramatic changes are made, might literally pull the ground out from under us. The decision, the ministers should know, throws the baby (long-term national interests) out with the bathwater (streamlining bureaucracy).

A demographic majority is not enough to maintain Jewish sovereignty for the generations to come in the State of Israel. Sovereignty also depends on a geographic majority. The Basic Law on Israel Lands was passed to insure that this would be the case in the distant future, so "ownership shall not be transferred" (from the state to individuals).

The founding generation, whose feet were deeply planted in the soil of both vision and reality, understood that the land is a nonrenewable resource of finite quantity, and therefore, considering the extreme paucity of this resource in Israel, it cannot be considered mere real estate to be sold in the marketplace. (We are already the most crowded country in the Western world.) That's why they prohibited - using a Basic Law - the transfer of land to private ownership "either by sale or any other manner." State lands, in addition to their intended purpose for housing, farming or public use, are the fundamental asset for promoting the Jewish people's national goals in its historic homeland.

We must not have a policy of hiding our heads in the sand. The members of the Arab nation who live among us are trying to take over ILA property out of openly declared motives of nationalist interest, and in the Galilee and Negev they are succeeding.

Now, with state lands to be offered to all comers - foreigners, directly or through Israeli straw companies, will be able to institute a hostile takeover (money and motivation to act against Israel are not in short supply in the Arab oil countries) of a good part of Israel's land reserves that were intended for the generations to come.

And the Jewish state - how long will it last?