Absentee Property Law

Rafat Sub-Laban protesting outside his family's home in the Old City of Jerusalem, after they were expelled to make way for Jewish settlers, July 11, 2023. (Yahel Gazit)

‘Israel wanted a silent, perfect victim. We refused’

After settlers took over his family's home in Jerusalem’s Old City last month, Rafat Ghaith-Sub Laban reflects on the hardships and lessons of their struggle.

By Yahel Gazit August 15, 2023

Suleiman and Sharifa, maternal grandparents of +972 editor Vera Sajrawi. (Courtesy)

Sharifa’s Nakba: Retracing my family’s escape from Haifa

+972 editor Vera Sajrawi sets out to uncover the hidden story of her grandparents' expulsion in 1948, walking the streets on which they used to live before being made refugees in their own homeland.

By Vera Sajrawi May 15, 2023

Fatma Salem argues with a Jewish settler setting up a metal fence outside her home in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, Dec. 16, 2021. (Rachel Shor)

Israel set to expel Sheikh Jarrah family in the new year

The Salems could be thrown out of their home to make way for settlers, after Jerusalem municipality officials hand an eviction order with no legal recourse.

By Yuval Abraham and Oren Ziv December 19, 2021

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Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces following a protest to mark Land Day in the village of Madama near Nablus, in the West Bank, March 30, 2017. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Land grabs in Israel never ended — they became more sophisticated

From maintaining British Mandate laws to turning land into national parks, Israel is dispossessing Palestinian citizens to this day, says lawyer Salim Wakim.

By Suha Arraf March 31, 2021

Hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis march from Silwan in East Jerusalem to the Prime Minister's Residence, February 6, 2021. (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)

Can Silwan’s rekindled protests beat back Israel’s eviction threats?

With little hope that the courts will stop the settlers' eviction campaign, one Palestinian activist feels energized by the Israelis joining the neighborhood's struggle.

By Oren Ziv March 1, 2021

Israeli security forces clash with Palestinian demonstrators protesting President Trump's Middle East peace plan, near a settlement Beqa'ot, Jordan Valley, West Bank, February 29, 2020. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

What will happen to Palestinian land the day after annexation?

The exact shape that annexation will take is still unknown. One thing is certain: Israel will use it to facilitate the theft of Palestinian land across the West Bank.

By Ziv Stahl May 3, 2020

A soldier guards the roadside checkpoint outside Srinagar International Airport in Jammu and Kashmir, India, January 2009. (Jrapczak/CC BY-SA 3.0)

What’s happening in Kashmir looks a lot like Israel’s rule over Palestine

By revoking autonomy from Kashmir, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking a page straight out of the Israeli playbook. By Abdulla Moaswes The last few weeks have seen a sharp escalation in tensions in the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked the territory’s long-standing autonomy, putting it on lockdown and plunging the region into…

By +972 Magazine August 12, 2019

The Shepherd Hotel in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, which was seized under Israel’s Absentee Property Law, is demolished in order to build a Jewish apartment complex, January 9, 2011. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

This isn’t Israel’s first ‘land theft law,’ it won’t be the last

Israel has a long and rich history of using the law to dispossess Palestinians of their land. Anyone willing to see what’s taken place over the past 70 years shouldn’t feign outrage at the latest ‘land theft law.’ Congrats to the Israeli Knesset for passing the settlement “regulation law” (also known as the “normalization law”…

By Orly Noy February 8, 2017

The home of the Palestinian Adgluni family is demolished by Israeli authorities, East Jerusalem, January 27, 2014. Israeli authorities claimed the house was built on lands that do not belong to the family. (Tali Mayer/Activestills.org)

Every day is Land Day, on both sides of the Green Line

The word 'occupation' evokes the West Bank, but the policies of land expropriation and Judaization were perfected inside Israel long before they were used on Palestinians in the occupied territories.

By Edo Konrad March 30, 2015

Israeli policemen enter the the Hayat family house in Silwan neighbourhood in East Jerusalem after Israeli settlers took over an apartment in the building, September 30, 2014. Israeli settlers took over seven homes in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem Tuesday morning.

JNF, settler group seek to evict Palestinian family in Silwan

The Jewish National Fund, known to Jews worldwide as an organization that plants trees in Israel, is once again trying to evict a Palestinian family from their home in East Jerusalem. By Moriel Rothman-Zecher Over the past few decades, the Jewish National Fund (JNF-KKL), an organization known to many in the diaspora for its work…

By +972 Magazine March 10, 2015