The Civil Administration of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories recommended a real estate regulation in Judea and Samaria that would replace the current cumbersome and long-standing process of the declaration of state-owned lands after conducting a land survey, Israel Hayom reported Monday.
Should the Netanyahu-Ganz government advance this recommendation, it will have a dramatic impact on the claims of so-called Arab landowners on lands held by Jews, as well as the Palestinian Authority’s attempts to take over state-owned lands in Area C.
The Civil Administration announced the recommendation in response to an inquiry submitted by MK Uzi Dayan (Likud) to the Defense Minister, in which he wondered why there are lingering delays in declaring state-owned lands whioch have already been surveyed, while the Palestinian Authority continues unmolested to take over lands in Area C.
In response to the inquiry, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories announced: “Our main recommendation is to gradually apply a real estate regulation in Judea and Samaria whose results are absolute and final, as the benefits of a real estate regulation outweigh the investment of resources in declaring state ownership of lands, which is then attacked in appeals with the courts, a procedure that often takes many years, even after the announcement, and its validity is not absolute, in contrast to a real estate regulation.”
The land regulation will be a process in which a mapping of the area will be carried out and everyone who claims ownership will be invited to submit documents proving his claim. On the basis of the claims, a table of claims will be created that represents everyone who claims ownership of the particular land. An inquiry will then be made, at the end of which a table of rights to the land will be established that will regulate the status of the land and its owners. The table of rights can be appealed to a judge, after whose decision the final bill will be published and the land will be registered in the name of its owner. This will be a final and absolute procedure, which cannot be appealed after its completion.
Following the publication of the report in Israel Hayom, Gush Etzion Regional Council Head Shlomo Ne’eman responded saying, “This is a very important move by the Civil Administration.”
Ne’eman added, “Of course we will carefully observe the methodology and speed of implementation, but there is no doubt that this is another step, which equates the legal status of Judea and Samaria to the rest of the country. Every day the establishment understands more and more that Israeli sovereignty is inevitable. These aren’t empty slogans, but practical moves that normalize the routine of our lives in Judea and Samaria.”
