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Land and Property laws in Israel refers to the legal framework governing land and property issues in Israel. Following its establishment, Israel designed a system of law that legitimized both a continuation and a consolidation of the nationalisation of land and property, a process that it had begun decades earlier. For the first few years of Israel’s existence, many of the new laws continued to be rooted in earlier Ottoman and British law. These laws were later amended or replaced altogether.

In 1945, about 85% of the arable land in Palestine was owned by Arabs.[1] [2] [3] By 1949, some 700,000 Palestinians had been displaced and/or fled from their lands and villages. Israel was now in control of some 20.5 million dunams (approx. 20 500 km²) of lands in what had been Mandate Palestine. In 1949, only about 8 percent (approx. 1,650 km²) of all the Israeli-controlled lands were Jewish-owned, 6% (approx. 1,300 km²) were Arab-owned, with the balance held under some form of government control[4].

The first challenge facing Israel was to transform its control over land into legal ownership. This was the motivation underlying the passing of several of the first group of land laws[5].

Pre-state period

In order to purchase land for the resettlement of Jews in their ancient homeland, the Fifth Zionist Congress (1901) created a private charitable organization called the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Land purchased by the JNF was leased out on a long-term basis to create kibbutzim and other forms of Jewish settlement. However, in the years leading up to the establishment of the state, 1936-1947, the British administration in Palestine introduced a series of land transfer regulations that divided the country into zones. Jews were prohibited from buying land in Zone A, which accounted for 63 percent of the total land area of Palestine. [6]Zone A included the Jerusalem environs and Hebron mountains. Purchases in Zone B, accounting for another 32 percent of the land, were also severely restricted. [7]

After the establishment of the state

After the declaration of independence in May 14, 1948, state-owned lands formerly in the possession of British Mandatory Authorities, together with property abandoned by Arab refugees, passed into the control of the new Israeli government[8]. The newly formed Israeli ministries, committees and departments had begun taking over functions performed earlier by ‘National Institutions’, that is, the JNF, the Jewish Agency (JA) and others. One of the first steps adopted by the new state was the reactivation of the Defence [Emergency] Regulations adopted earlier by the British in 1939 (and later repealed). Since British regulations had applied to the whole country, the Government of Israel passed the Law and Administration Ordinance [Amendment] Law [1948] to reverse the British repeal and reinstate these Emergency Regulations[9]. Some of this land was sold by the government to the JNF, which had developed expertise in reclaiming and developing waste and barren lands and making them productive.

In 1960 under Basic Law: Israel Lands, JNF-owned land and government-owned land were together defined as "Israel lands," and the principle was laid down that such land would be leased rather than sold. The JNF retained ownership of its land, but administrative responsibility for the JNF land, and also for government-owned land, passed to a newly created agency called the Israel Land Administration or ILA[10]. The lease principle is hardly new to the area however as it was practiced for centuries under the Ottoman tapu system. To this day, the Land Registration Office is commonly known in Israel as the tabu, the Arabic pronunciation of the Turkish tapu.

According to COHRE and BADIL (p. 38), land and property laws in Israel can be seen as evolving through three main phases or categories:

1. The imperative to physically acquire and colonise lands vacated by Palestinians who fled or were expelled, and to prevent their return;
2. The necessity of legalising such land acquisitions in order to pre-empt any future claims made by refugees or their descendents;
3. The goal of proceeding with the nationalisation/Judaisation process in areas of the country where Arabs still predominated.

BBC NEWS
Jerusalem land seizures 'illegal'
Israel's attorney general has told the government to call an immediate halt to confiscating Palestinian property in East Jerusalem under a 1950 land law.

Meni Mazuz said he was never consulted about the policy, which was secretly approved by the cabinet last summer.

He wrote to the finance minister saying the law could not be used for people absent from their property because of Israeli security measures.

The legislation entitles Israel to take Arab-owned land without compensation.

Palestinians say the cabinet decision was meant to allow the takeover of thousands of hectares of Palestinian-owned land around Jerusalem and cement Israel's control over the occupied eastern half of the city.

Hundreds of hectares have been seized in recent months, say lawyers for Palestinian landowners.

The United States has expressed concern about Israel's decision to apply the 1950 Absentee Property Law after it was brought to light last month.

A meeting between top Israeli envoy Dov Weisglass and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is thought to have discussed the issue on Monday.

Not defensible

Mr Mazuz ruled that reviving the long-dormant law was illegal, justice ministry spokesman Jacob Galanti told journalists.

"Mazuz gave his opinion to ministers that this decision is not legally defensible, that it cannot stand up to either Israeli or international law," he said.

Many of the Palestinian "absentees" affected by implementation of the 55-year-old law are cut off from their land by new structures like roads to Jewish settlements and Israel's separation barrier, which has been deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice.

The law was originally devised to expropriate property belonging to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled their homes during the conflict that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948.

Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza from Jordan in the 1967 war.

It then expanded Jerusalem's municipal boundaries into the West Bank and annexed the enlarged eastern Jerusalem, a move not recognised internationally.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4226497.stm

Published: 2005/02/01 14:19:36 GMT

That began in 1948 after the Jews declared the Independence of their new country, Israel. This was recommended by the UN, after the British abandoned Palestine and delegated to the UN the responsibility for deciding what to do with Palestine.

You surprise me. I really had thought you knew more about it ... since the movement to settle in Israel started from Germany.

Perhaps, that is the simple answer?
... ... ...
Of what import would it be for one to say that it started in Germany? So did Reform Judaism, I thought, start in Germany. A fact of little consequence, I believe, other than within the confines of the incongruency of the Nazis scapegoating the most assimilated version of Judaism in the world?

One could also point out that German Jews spoke High German, not Bavarian German, to a large extent. So? In the end, "German Jews" found themselves disenfranchised from their heritage.

I've only referred to the sources I've got, and here especially to the above quoted two magazines.