Israel Matzav

'Palestinians' call for death penalty for broker of seven buildings sold to Jews in 'east' Jerusalem

One night in the summer of 1964, we came home and found a delegation of neighbors on the doorstep of our Natick, Massachusetts home. I was a little kid at the time, but I heard afterward what had happened. Our family was moving to Newton - another Boston suburb which is closer in - and my parents had sold our house to a black family. The neighbors were furious and wanted to buy the house to keep the neighborhood lily white. Yes, in Blue Massachusetts. My father z"l (of blessed memory) told them where to get off.

I think of that story every time I hear a story like this one.

Under police guard, Jewish families moved into seven buildings in the 'east' Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan - right outside the Old City - on Tuesday, as the former owners of the building and the broker who sold them fled, and a 'Palestinian Authority' official called for the death penalty for the broker.

In the latest case, all of the homes were purchased legally by Elad via intermediaries, usually Palestinian brokers who buy the properties from local families at inflated prices.

At one house, Khaled Karaeen, 62 and a father of six, sat with his head in his hands in the courtyard of his home, edgily flicking worry beads, unable to believe what had happened.

Relatives said one of Karaeen's sons had sold a dwelling inside the grounds of the family home to a Palestinian broker about a year ago for 1.2 million shekels ($300,000), around twice as much as the property was probably worth.

Karaeen refused to speak to visitors on Tuesday, with family members saying he was too ashamed by what his son had done. Karaeen's brother said he had spoken by phone to the son, who had fled to the north of Israel.

In the past, Palestinians found to have sold their homes to settler organizations have been killed.

The broker had then sold the apartment to Elad, which then rented it out to the Jewish residents, who moved in during the early hours of Tuesday morning with the help of Israeli police.

The Jewish family, which declined to be interviewed, had barricaded themselves inside, blocking a yellow door that opens onto Karaeen's courtyard. Karaeen sat three meters (10 feet) away.

I was going to make a sarcastic remark about how giving the 'Palestinians' a 'state' would make them more willing to live among Jews. Alas, even that remark is out of place.

"They want to make a joke of us," said Fadi Maragha, a local representative of the Palestinian political party Fatah, who said he had come to offer support to the family.

"They think they can drive us out. But we are the landowners. We were here and we will be here until we have all of Palestine without any Jewish people in it," he said.

Asked what would happen to the son and the broker to whom he had sold the property, Maragha said he felt they should die, but he did not expect that to happen.

"We know who the broker is. He's living in a town south of Jerusalem," he said. "But he's rich and he's protected, including by the Israelis." 

Funny. I once owned a home in New Jersey and I sold it 23 years ago. Does that mean I'm not the landowner there anymore? Or would the 'Palestinians' still consider me the landowner? Hmmm.

Labels: Arab land sales to Jews, death penalty, death threats, East Jerusalem, Silwan

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:15 PM