Summary
Israel’s Basic Law: Israel Lands, passed 19 July 1960, one of the Basic Laws: in three sections it bars transfer of ownership of Israel lands — the lands in Israel of the State, the Development Authority or the Keren Kayemet Le-Israel — by sale or in any other manner, excepts classes of lands and transactions determined by Law, and defines lands to include houses, buildings and anything permanently fixed to land (Basic Law: Israel Lands (1960), PDF p.1).
Details
- Section 1 (PDF p.1): ownership of Israel lands, defined by the three holders, shall not be transferred either by sale or in any other manner.
- Section 2 (PDF p.1): section 1 does not apply to classes of lands and classes of transactions determined for that purpose by Law; the file states no entrenchment or special majority for this exception power.
- Section 3 (PDF p.1): “lands” means land, houses, buildings and anything permanently fixed to land.
- Scope in the text: the bar attaches to ownership only; the Law states no rule on leasing, letting or use, and no rule about who may hold or use the land. The companion Israel Lands Administration Law, 5720-1960 regulates letting and leasing through Israel Lands Council approval for non-urban land over 100 dunams (Israel Lands Administration Law, 5720-1960 (1960), PDF p.1-2).
- The Law is the first text of the 1960 package whose other members, on Sitta’s account, are the Israel Lands Law and the Israel Lands Administration Law of 25 July 1960, enacted after the JNF-government dispute over whether seized land should be held for the Jewish people or the state (Palestinian Right of Return: Sacred, Legal, and Possible, lines 1270-1305).
Where sources disagree
- The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine attributes a bar on selling, leasing and finally sub-letting JNF land to non-Jews to the laws of 1960 and the Law of Agricultural Settlement of 1967 (PDF p.257-258). This Basic Law bars transfer of ownership only, by any holder to anyone, and names no lessee class; the lease and lessee elements rest on texts not in this file. Both accounts are kept.
Related pages
Basic Law: Israel Lands (1960), Basic Laws, Israel Lands Administration Law, 5720-1960, Jewish National Fund, Development Authority