Moussa Shakarneh participating in the opening ceremony of the office of the Land Settlement Authority in the Nablus District with the participation of Nablus District Governor Akram Rajoub and Nablus Mayor Adly Yaish (Facebook page of the Land and Water Settlement (Registration) Authority, November 21, 2017).
Moussa Shakarneh participating in the opening ceremony of the Land Authority office in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron (Facebook page of the Land and Water Settlement (Registration) Authority, October 8, 2017).
Moussa Shakarneh participating in the opening ceremony of the Land Authority office in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron (Facebook page of the Land and Water Settlement (Registration) Authority, October 8, 2017).
During the past year, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been very active in promoting land registration arrangements in the Land Registry in Judea and Samaria. This activity is carried out by the Land and Water Settlement (Registration) Authority, a body operating within the framework of the Palestinian Land Authority. The Land Authority is subordinate to the Palestinian government and its head enjoys ministerial status. Special emphasis is placed on registering land in Area C and in the Jerusalem area[1]. The PA perceives land registration as an important legal means for proving Palestinians’ ownership of land in Judea and Samaria. In the ITIC’s assessment, the purpose of land registration is to make it as difficult as possible for Israelis to purchase land in Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem and to grant advantages to Palestinians who turn to the courts, including the Israeli courts.
- This activity was revealed in a recent interview granted to the Wafa News Agency by Judge Moussa Shakarneh, the new chairman of the Palestinian Land Authority (April 7, 2018). In the interview, Judge Shakarneh said that the land settlement and registration process in the West Bank had already begun and that no one would be able to stop it. According to him, half of the land registration activities are carried out in Area C and in the Jerusalem area as part of a “strategic move” by the Palestinian leadership aimed at protecting the Palestinian lands and establishing the Palestinians’ right to them. According to him, this move also implements the “right of return” through the registration of land belonging to Palestinians living abroad (for details of the interview, see Appendices A and B).
- The PA’s registration activity is carried out in addition to the PA’s cooperation with Turkey. This cooperation includes the transfer of documents from the Ottoman archive to the PA, in order to prove Palestinian ownership of land in Judea and Samaria and to prevent Israel from taking it over. At the present time, the Palestinians are placing an emphasis on documenting the Palestinian waqf ownership (religious endowments) of Palestinian land in the Jerusalem area, with the assistance of the Ottoman archive which they received from the Turks (including land registration documents throughout the Ottoman Empire in 1517-1914) [2].
[1] Area C comprises regions in Judea and Samaria that are under Israeli security and civilian control. The term is derived from the Oslo II Accord (1995). Most of the land-related disputes between Israel and the Palestinians pertain to Area C. ↑
[2] For further information see the ITIC’s Information Bulletin from March 15, 2018: “The Palestinian Authority in collaboration with Turkey is searching the Ottoman State Archives for documentation regarding Palestinian ownership of lands, including waqf property in Jerusalem, to prevent land from being sold to Israel” ↑
