IKRAMA SABRI

There is an interesting partial parallel between the concept of land ownership in Israel and other parts of Palestine and Native Americans. In Israel, a capitalistic democracy, land is bought and sold all the time, by private and public entities. Therefore land owned by a person can be sold to others with religion being no barrier. American Indians had no conceptual place for individual land ownership although they had been warring over hunting and living rights for centuries. But they challenged the rights to use land as being something different from ownership of the land which some Indians believe it only vested in the tribe—the Nation. The Palestinians came up with a wrinkle by having the Supreme Religious Authority of Jerusalem rule that it was illegal for Muslims to sell land to Jews, then all land transfers to Jews are really not legal and this land is part of the “occupied territory.” So by this view, all sales of Israeli land from Muslim to Muslim and Jew to Muslim are legal. However, this Islamic legal propositions means that Jews can NEVER acquire land. This has been extended to government and NGOs so that it fine for Muslim Governmental Agencies to take land under eminent domain concepts but not so for a Jewish governmental agency. While there are few who see any legal validity in international law to this concept, it is culturally, religiously and legally enforced. Many Arabs have been murdered in the streets just on the accusation that they sold land to Jews.

There is an interesting partial parallel between the concept of land ownership in Israel and other parts of Palestine and Native Americans. In Israel, a capitalistic democracy, land is bought and sold all the time, by private and public entities. Therefore land owned by a person can be sold to others with religion being no barrier. American Indians had no conceptual place for individual land ownership although they had been warring over hunting and living rights for centuries. But they challenged the rights to use land as being something different from ownership of the land which some Indians believe it only vested in the tribe—the Nation. The Palestinians came up with a wrinkle by having the Supreme Religious Authority of Jerusalem rule that it was illegal for Muslims to sell land to Jews, then all land transfers to Jews are really not legal and this land is part of the “occupied territory.” So by this view, all sales of Israeli land from Muslim to Muslim and Jew to Muslim are legal. However, this Islamic legal propositions means that Jews can NEVER acquire land. This has been extended to government and NGOs so that it fine for Muslim Governmental Agencies to take land under eminent domain concepts but not so for a Jewish governmental agency. While there are few who see any legal validity in international law to this concept, it is culturally, religiously and legally enforced. Many Arabs have been murdered in the streets just on the accusation that they sold land to Jews.