Beware when buying in israel

Don't be blinded by the offer of cheap property in Israel - it may be a bargain in a financial sense but it is likely to be a real headache in other ways - as it is revealed that many of the properties being sold at auction actually belong to Palestinian refugees - making it illegal to sell them under Israeli law...

Some 760,000 Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven out when the state of Israel was created in 1948 are the legal owners of thousands of properties that are now being sold at auction in modern day Israel.

International investors are often unaware that the bargain priced property they are purchasing is actually illegal.

A human rights group discovered that the Israel Lands Administration has carried out almost 300 auctions since 2007, selling these properties at very cheap prices, often to foreign buyers who are not fully aware of the situation.

The group, Adalah Legal Centre, said that the sale of Palestinian properties ‘went against both Israeli and international law,' as the ‘ownership of the properties was transferred to the Custodian of Absentee Properties until a political solution is reached to the refugee issue.'

Israel has been inviting bids on thousands of properties and has been transferring the ownership rights to private owners or companies. As such, Palestinian refugees may not be able to reclaim their own properties in the future.

Lawyer Suhad Bishara of the Adalah Legal Centre said, "Selling these properties constitutes the final expropriation of the right to property of Palestinian refugees, despite the special legal, historical and political status of these properties.

"It also contradicts international humanitarian law, which stipulates the need to respect the right of private property and explicitly prohibits the final expropriation of private property following the termination of warfare," she added.

The Adalah Legal Centre sent a letter to Israeli authorities last month demanding the cancellation of the invitations to bid on the properties and it also plans to appeal to the Israeli supreme court over the issue.

Israel is one of the few places where property prices have remained steady despite the downturn hitting the rest of the globe.

Picture by Jordan klein