GAZA CITY, August 6, 2005 (IslamOnlin.net) – Palestinian Mufti Sheikh Ekrema Sabri ruled Saturday, August 6, that the assets of Jewish settlements in Gaza Strip were public property and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in its role was entitled to handle them in a “fair and just” manner.

“These assets and what will be left behind by the settlers are deemed as booty gained by the victorious country,” Sabri told IslamOnline.net, adding that the PA had the final say over left-behind properties.

The Israeli army is to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, one of the world's most densely populated slivers of territory, and four of 120 in the West Bank on August 17.

This has whetted the appetites of Palestinian land brokers and businessmen as the strip is expected to experience an unprecedented economic boom.

Land prices have already skyrocketed in the areas adjacent to Israeli settlements.

“Individuals are not allowed to seize these properties and appropriate ministries should keep a tally of them or help needy Palestinians,” Sabri stressed.

“Left-behind Jewish properties are in the public domain,” added Ihsan Ashour, mufti of the Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis.

Maher Al-Sousi, professor of Shari`ah in the Gaza-based Islamic University, agreed that “individuals are not entitled to take over what Jews will leave behind after evacuation.”

He warned of possible free-for-all looting and chaos if these properties were not handled properly by the Palestinian Authority.

“It will actually tarnish the image of the struggling and freedom-fighting Palestinians in the eyes of the world as anarchic people who cannot take over after the Israeli pullout.”

Sabri also said “bogus” land sale contracts that have surfaced ahead of the Israeli withdrawal are “null and void.”

“These bogus contracts and title deeds are just like perjury on the contrary to those signed with mutual consent,” he said.

Salem Salama, chairman of the Palestinian Scholars League, said those striking such contracts should be severely punished.

“It is unacceptable that after Palestinians have sacrificed themselves [to liberate their land] intruders and mavericks come and sell these pieces of land [through bogus contracts],” he said.

The PA has declared land within Jewish settlements as off-limits to business moguls and investors.

It warned last week that some title deeds had been forged and that the PA would not recognize any land sale in areas where Jewish settlements have been built.

A special court set up by the PA has ruled that only five percent of settlement space is private property.

Sabri further lambasted land squatters as nothing but “usurpers” who should give back stolen territories to their legitimate proprietors.

Ashour said land squatting is an “unfair aggression on public property,” demanding the PA to take an immediate action to protect national interests.

“Otherwise, the PA would be something of a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” he said.

President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nuhayan donated on July 25, 100 million dollars to build a city that can accommodate 100,000 Palestinians on the remains of Israeli settlements.

A construction tycoon from the UAE offered in February to buy and redevelop the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip after the Israeli pullout.

Palestinians welcome any withdrawal from land captured in the 1967 Middle East war, but fear the Gaza plan is a ruse to strengthen Israel's hold on the West Bank.

UN resolutions regard all Jewish settlements built on occupied Palestinian territories to be illegal.