The Palestinian Authority’s Land Authority urged Palestinians to withhold information from Israeli authorities after Jerusalem launched an electronic land registration system for Area C of the West Bank.
The process looks to create a comprehensive understanding of land ownership and register ownership of every plot.
The registry was reopened in February for the first time since 1967 and was allegedly in response to attempts by the Palestinian Authority to annex sections of Area C, though no recent public moves of such an attempt were recorded.
Claiming the registration system was “an unprecedented and dangerous escalation aimed at imposing legal and administrative realities through the power of the occupation,” the authority alleged that the registration process would pave the way for annexation and land seizures, especially in Area C.
Accusing Jerusalem of attempting a “Judaizing Palestinian land” project, the authority denied that any such registration process was legal under international law and would undermine efforts to establish a Palestinian state.
“All citizens inside and outside the homeland [are urged] not to engage or cooperate with any bodies, committees, platforms, or procedures affiliated with the Israeli occupation concerning land registration or settlement work, property surveys, updating real estate data, submitting land and property documents and records, or disclosing any ownership-related information, except after consulting the competent Palestinian authorities,” the authority asserted.
Palestinians responding to the statement complained that the authority failed to make clear which “competent Palestinian authorities” to turn to, and some said they believed not engaging in the legal process would create an opportunity for Israel to mark their land as unregistered state land.
The authority did not respond to The Jerusalem Post’s requests for comment.
Mass refusal may lead to land seizures being viewed as 'deliberate'
Dr. Ronit Levine-Schnur, property and land use law expert from the Harry Radzyner Law School and a research associate at the Gazit-Globe Real Estate Institute, explained to the Post that if Palestinians fail to register their land, it will be considered state land and could be seized as an “unintended” consequence.
“The land registration system isn’t supposed to be about seizing lands; it’s supposed to be about reflecting the rights to each plot of land,” she explained.
“However, with respect to processes of land regarding lands that have not been registered yet, the Israeli government decided earlier this year to start these processes that were frozen since 1967.”
Though Palestinians may have been allowed to register their land, a mass refusal to proceed with the registration process would likely lead the wider diplomatic powers to view land seizures as more deliberate than what is intended, she noted.
Predicting that the majority of Palestinians would follow the PA authority’s orders, she noted that the argument could be made that Israel would be carrying out an unfair process contrary to the well-being of the population in Area C.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.