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Experts maintain that the Palestinians are the only owners of the land on which Jewish settlements were built.
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By
Yasser Al-Banna, IOL Correspondent
GAZA
CITY, February 20, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Buying Jewish
settlements from Israel after its planned pullout of the Gaza Strip
later this year is “illegal” since the Palestinians are the real
landlords, a Palestinian legal expert said.
“This
land is owned by the Palestinians; hence, it cannot be sold to anyone
[without a Palestinian consent] or bought from the Israelis,” Faraj
Al-Khoul told IslamOnline.net.
He
said the Palestinian Authority cannot even sell it to another country
or foreign investors, let alone the Israeli occupation authority.
Emerging
from talks with Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres, Mohammad Ali
Al-Abbar, chairman of the leading Dubai-based Emmar Properties, said
he was interested in initiating development projects in the Gush Katif
bloc of settlements in the southern Gaza Strip after
Israel
leaves.
Abbar,
the driving force behind the huge effort to turn
Dubai
into the tourism, leisure and business hub of the Gulf, told Reuters
that he was looking into developing residential and commercial
properties, including hotels, in the Gaza Strip.
The
Palestinian legal expert said the evacuated land “can be utilized by
willing investors if the PA granted a permission. Otherwise, it will
be null and void.”
Ghoul
elaborated that the land is either owned by citizens, the state or
waqfs (religious endowments) authorities.
“Law
applies to the three categories and the Emirate construction company
should buy this land from the Palestinians not the Israelis,” he
averred.
Reward
Political
pundits additionally said buying the settlements will be tantamount to
rewarding
Israel
for “usurping” and occupying the Palestinian territories and
opening a new door for normalizing Arab relations with Tel Aviv.
“It
seems as if they (buyers) were telling
Israel
, ‘Yes, go ahead and do whatever you want,’” Hassan Abu Hashish
told IOL.
“To
buy these settlements is like rewarding
Israel
and providing it with much-needed finances to evacuate the land.”
Israel
has allocated $870 million in compensation for the 8,000 settlers to
be evacuated from Gaza Strip, broken down into payments ranging from
$200,000 to $500,000 per family, depending on size of assets.
Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to dismantle all 21 settlements in
the Gaza Strip and four of 120 in the West Bank is bracing for a
crucial cabinet vote on Sunday, February 20.
“The
Palestinians don’t need cement blocks, but their independence to
start rebuilding their country,” Hashish added.
Abdel
Sattar Qasem, professor of political sciences in
Al-Najah
University
in Nablus, said the Israelis should compensate the Palestinians for
decades of occupation not the other way round.
But
Qasem, a one-time presidential candidate, did not expect
Israel
to accept the sale offer on religious grounds.
“The
Jews believe that their homes cannot be dwelled by other races, so
they will bulldoze flat such settlements as they did in the settlement
of Yamit before withdrawing from
Egypt
’s Sinai,” he said.
Beneficial
But
Asharf Al-Ajrami, a political expert, believes that the Palestinians
will benefit from the lucrative offer.
“Abbar
wants the Palestinians to benefit from these settlements instead of
Israel razing them to the ground,” he told IOL.
He
said the picturesque seafront settlements bloc of Gush Katif is a
tourist destination and can help reinvigorate the sluggish Palestinian
economy.
Last
week, Israeli Housing Minister Isaac Herzog said
Gaza
settlers would be encouraged to relocate to sparsely populated areas
of
Israel
, but could also go to a new West Bank settlement block if they will.
The
new settlement, which violates the internationally-backed roadmap, is
planned as an extension to the Gush Etzion bloc.
The
peace blueprint requires a halt to settlement-building on Palestinian
lands
Israel
occupied in 1967.
But
US
President George W. Bush said in 2004 that
Israel
could expect to keep some of the West Bank land.
