ISRAEL IS considering extending to east Jerusalem a law on abandoned properties, allowing the state to take control of Palestinian property worth millions of euro.
If the Israeli courts approve the move, the government will be entitled to take control of east Jerusalem buildings whose owners moved to enemy states during the 1948-9 Arab-Israeli war, Israel’s war of independence, and property owned by people living in the West Bank.
Israel captured east Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War. The Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as the future capital of an independent state.
The fate of Jerusalem is one of the most contentious issues to be decided during peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Any unilateral decision by Israel altering the delicate status quo is bound to provoke an angry response from both the Palestinians and the international community.
