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- The Knesset passed the Absentees' Property Law (1950), which created a government agency to administer the confiscation and redistribution of the property of Arabs who left the area of the State of Israel (for whatever reason) during the fighting of 1948:
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| Interpretation. |
- 1. In this Law -
- (a) "property" includes immovable arid movable property, moneys, a vested or contingent right in property, goodwill and any right in a body of persons or in its management;
- (b) "absentee" means -
- (1) a person who, at any time during the period between the 16th Kislev, 5708 (29th November, 1947) and the day on which a declaration is published, under section 9(d) of the Law and Administration Ordinance, 5708-1948, that the state of emergency declared by the Provisional Council of State on the 10th Iyar, 5708 (19th May, 1948)(2) has ceased to exist, was a legal owner of any property situated in the area of Israel or enjoyed or held it, whether by himself or through another, and who, at any time during the said period -
- (i) was a national or citizen of the Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, SaudiArabia, Trans-Jordan, Iraq or the Yemen, or
- (ii) was in one of these countries or in any part of Palestine outside the area of Israel, or
- (iii) was a Palestinian citizen and left his ordinary place of residence in Palestine
- (a) for a place outside Palestine before the 27th Av, 5708 (1st September, 1948); or
- (b) for a place in Palestine held at the time by forces which sought to prevent the establishment of the State of Israel or which fought against it after its establishment;
- (2) a body of persons which, at any time during the period specified in paragraph (1), was a legal owner of any property situated in the area of Israel or enjoyed or held such property, whether by itself or through another, and all the members, partners, shareholders, directors or managers of which are absentees within the meaning of paragraph (1), or the management of the business of which is otherwise decisively controlled by such absentees, or all the capital of which is in the hands of such absentees;
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| Custodian of Absentees' Property. |
- 2.
- (a) The Minister of Finance shall appoint, by order published in Reshumot, a Custodianship Council for Absentees' Property, and shall designate one of its members to be the chairman of the Council. The chairman of the Council shall be called the Custodian.
- (b) The Custodian may bring an action and institute any other legal proceeding against any person and be a plaintiff, defendant or otherwise a party in any legal proceeding.
- (c) The Custodian is entitled to be represented in any legal proceeding by the Attorney-General or his representative.
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| Vesting of absentees' property in Custodian. |
- 4.
- (a) Subject to the provisions of this Law -
- (1) all absentees' property is hereby vested in the Custodian as from the day of publication of his appointment or the day on which it became absentees' property, whichever is the later date;
- (2), every right an absentee had in any property shall pass automatically to the Custodian at the time of the vesting of the property; and the status of the Custodian shall be the same as was that of the owner of the property.
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| Absentees' businesses. |
- 8.
- (a) The Custodian may carry on the management of a business on behalf of an absentee, whether or not he indicates that the business is managed by the Custodian, but he shall always have the right to sell or lease the whole or a part of the business, and -
- (1) if it is the business of an individual - to liquidate it;
- (2) if it is the business of a partnership all the partners of which are shareholders of which are absentees, or of a cooperative society all the members of which are absentees - to wind up the partnership, company or cooperative society by order published in Reshumot.
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| Validity of transactions. |
- 17. Any transaction made in good faith between the Custodian and another person in respect of property which the Custodian considered at the time of the transaction to be vested property shall not be invalidated and shall remain in force even if it is proved that the property was not at the time vested property.
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| Limitation of powers of Custodian. |
- 19.
- (a) Where the vested property is of the category of immovable property, the Custodian shall not -
- (1) sell or otherwise transfer the right of ownership thereof; provided that if a Development Authority is established under a Law of the Knesset, it shall be lawful for the Custodian to sell the property to that Development Authority at a price not less than the official value of the property;
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| International Human Rights Law concerning this form of discrimination. |
Here is what some of the international laws say about having your property taken from you just because you are Arab and left the country (for whatever reason) during the fighting in 1948.
- 1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1948)
- Article 13.
- (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.
- Article 17.
- (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
- (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
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- 2. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (21 December 1965)
- Article 2.
- 1. States Parties condemn racial discrimination and undertake to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and promoting understanding among all races, and, to this end:
- (c) Each State Party shall take effective measures to review governmental, national and local policies, and to amend, rescind or nullify any laws and regulations which have the effect of creating or perpetuating racial discrimination wherever it exists;
- Article 5.
- (a) The right to equal treatment before the tribunals and all other organs administering justice;
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- 3. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (16 December 1966)
- Article 26. All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
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- 4. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (16 December 1966)
- 5. International Covenant on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (18 July 1976)
This section pertains to the confiscation and redistribution of the property of Arab civilians who left the area (for whatever reason, but a large percentage were chased out by Israeli forces) during the 1948 fighting, and then were not allowed to return. The international anti-apartheid convention does not really apply to this action by the Israeli government.
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