Land Expropriation
In 1950, Israel enacted the Absentee Property Law, through which the Israeli state confiscated the lands and properties of the expelled Palestinian refugees. The internally displaced refugees who remained inside what became Israel were defined as “present absentees” and their properties were also confiscated by the state. The law authorised the state to sell the lands and properties of the Palestinian refugees to the Jewish National Fund. More than a million acres were expropriated from their owners. The law allows for no appeal or compensation and has essentially legitimised the theft of refugees’ properties. The law was broadened in 2004 under Ariel Sharon to include lands and properties in East Jerusalem and for the building of Israel’s Separation Barrier in the West Bank.