On 3 December 2008, Adalah sent a letter to the Israeli Minister of Finance, Roni Bar-On, and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, demanding that they cancel the confiscation of a plot of land measuring 1.5 dunams located in the Jewish town of Yokneam and restore it to its original owners, members of the Halabi family from the Arab village of Daliyat al-Carmel. The land was confiscated in 1965 under the Lands (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance – 1943 and was used to house a military camp, which has recently been removed.
In the letter, Adalah Attorney Suhad Bishara argued that according to recent decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court, the state’s ownership of expropriated land is not absolute but conditional on the land being used for the purpose for which it was confiscated. If the purpose expires, the state is obliged to return the land to its owners.
Adalah emphasized that the confiscation is in breach of one of the most fundamental human rights – the right to property – which is a constitutional right protected under the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom - 1992. Furthermore, this case is one of a small number of rare cases in which it is possible to resort to the law to demand the revocation of a confiscation because the land is no longer being used for the purpose for which it was originally confiscated. In addition, documents still exist to prove that the family owned the land prior to its confiscation.
In the letter, Adalah referenced a Supreme Court decision relating to a Jewish family (the Karsik family) from Hadera, who owned land which was confiscated for military purposes. After the army ceased using the land, the family applied to the Supreme Court and requested its return. The court complied with the family’s request and returned their land to them. See H.C. 2390/96, Karsik v. The State of Israel, 55(ii) P.D. 625.
Adalah has previously filed two petitions in similar cases which are pending before the Israeli Supreme Court. In one case, Adalah demanded the return to its owners of land in the uprooted Palestinian village of Lajoun that was confiscated by the state in the early-1950s for “essential settlement and development needs”. This land was not used by the state as such but as a forested area. The second case involves land belonging to the Hamdan family in Nazareth that was confiscated in 1958 for alleged “public purposes” but has never been used for any such purpose. It was recently announced that the land is for sale in a bid on the open market and the land was sold. In this case, the Supreme Court refused to issue an injunction to stop the sale.