The other day, we asked whether it is a crime to buy land. The question was rhetorical, but we were remiss in not mentioning that in Palestinian Authority territory, it is not merely a crime, but a capital offence, to sell land to Jews.
As Le Monde Diplomatique explains:
Since Jordan had made land sales to Israelis a crime punishable by death (from 1973-87 about 100 people were sentenced by Jordanian courts to death in absentia),Le Monde Diplomatique goes on to point out that individual Jews and Jewish charities have sometimes stooped to such shocking tactics as paying “astronomical prices” or finding new homes for the vendors, out of reach of the
the PA has imposed its own death penalty for such sales, including land in Jerusalem. This was announced by Freh Abu Meidan, the justice minister, on 6 May 1997. Twenty-two Palestinians have been since arrested and the Palestinian legislative council has begun debating a law to restrict sales.
Even Amnesty International has found something to complain about, namely that the Palestinian insecurity forces often don't even bother with trials for these offences:
Unlawful killings, including possible extrajudicial executions, continued to occur. Three land-dealers were found dead during May after the Minister of Justice, Freih Abu Middein, announced that the Palestinian Authority would begin applying a Jordanian law which provided for the death penalty for those convicted of selling land to Jews. There were fears that statements by the Minister of Justice and the failure to condemn the killings appeared to constitute permission to security services to carry out extrajudicial executions with impunity. In June the Palestinian Authority made a public statement supporting the death sentence for land-dealers but rejecting any killing without trial and conviction.
