Subject: Property Ownership in Gaza From: Fred Chase Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 09:50:20 -0400 To: Judie Bowen CC: Roi BenYehuda Well, Judie: --There *is* land ownership in Gaza and PA courts can deal with it. --Since 1967, Israel has used eminent domain, among other things, to help the settlers. --Some of the land conflicts in Palestine are similar to those everywhere. ======================================== This seems to be a good reference: Land Ownership in Palestine/Israel The following is the first part of an excerpt I'm making of this big web page. Let me know if you want the entire excerpt. <<<<<<<<<<<<< The majority of the lands in Palestine were the properties of the Palestinian rural population, the fellahin. The fellahin of Palestine are rural farming communities with communal shared ownership of the land and own the means of cultivation. Although the concept of the peasant (qatruz) existed in Palestinian society, it was not widespread due to the communal nature of the culture of the fellahin. The feddan is a measurement of a share of land that varies in size from village to village and may vary from year to year, even within the same village. Villages owned their land collectively by the village residents or by the hamoula (family). Physical features and traditional names of lands were used to describe the boundaries of a certain village land and were respected by neighboring villages. In the plowing and seeding season, lands were divided between village residents every fall based on ability to cultivate. Zalameh wa 'ammal (a man and a working animal) would get one feddan share. A man without 'ammal would get half a feddan. A man would get half a feddan for each additional working animal he owned that was available for work. The concept is still used today in some villages in the West Bank. In the village of Sanour between Nablus and Jenin, residents of the village have collective ownership of Marj Sanour (the Sanour Plains). The residents of Sanour divide the land among themselves every year based on manpower. With the introduction of tractors, the working animal is no longer counted. The new measurement of share today is zalameh (a man), which is based on the man only. People get a zalameh, half a zalameh, or a quarter zalameh as their share today. In the mountains or the hillside, people had individual or family ownership of orchards or land with trees (ardh mushajjara). Ownership was based on planting and maintaining trees or by inheritance. Boundaries marked by the cactus trees or sinisleh (walls built by collecting stones and stacking them at the boundaries) were respected by everyone. Boundaries for grazing grounds for the semi-nomadic tribes were also respected out of tradition with reference to land names. In 1858 the Ottoman Authority .................. >>>>>>>>>> ======================================== In "Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem" chapter 16 is WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY COMMITTED BY ZIONISTS AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN THE GAZA STRIP In that chapter it says: "The occupation forces continued their looting and sequestration of property. They ordered the expropriation of all property belonging to absentee citizens of the Gaza Strip." Based on that I would infer that Israel scooped up quite a bit of loose property in 1967 and then sold it to Israelis (possibly including a few Israeli *Arabs*). ======================================== And from Al Jazeera http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1475815A-3C8C-4986-85C4-D67CA42BC0EF.htm is the following excerpt: "...........drew a distinction between legal claims for pre-1948 landownership in the Palestinian territories and in Israel. "If individual Jews can prove ownership of land before Israel's creation ...., their claim will be recognised....." At present, Israel does not recognise Palestinian claims to ... land owned by some 700,000 refugees who fled their home during the 1948 war." ======================================== And in Land-Related Issues there is reference to a "complex system of land ownership which had developed under Ottoman rule" ======================================== -Fred -- -Fred Chase (Frederick N. Chase)