Summary
Israel’s Israel Lands Administration Law, 5720-1960, passed 25 July 1960, establishing the Israel Lands Administration to administer Israel lands and an Israel Lands Council to set its land policy, supervise it and approve its draft budget, and amending the State Property Law and the Development Authority law so larger non-urban transactions need the Council’s approval and Development Authority acts on Israel lands are done by the Administration (Israel Lands Administration Law, 5720-1960 (1960), PDF p.1-3).
Details
- Establishment (section 2, PDF p.1): the Government shall establish the Administration; its Director is Government-appointed, without the vacancy-advertisement obligation, directly subordinate to the Minister of Agriculture; its employees are State employees.
- Council (sections 3-4, PDF p.1): the Government shall appoint the Israel Lands Council to lay down land policy, supervise the Administration and approve its draft budget; the Director reports to the Council at least yearly and the Government reports to the Knesset at least yearly. No composition for the Council is stated in this Law.
- Transaction bar (sections 5-6, PDF p.1-2): save with the Council’s approval, neither the Government under the amended State Property Law nor the Development Authority under its amended law may sell, transfer ownership of, or let or lease Israel lands that are not urban land and exceed 100 dunams.
- Execution shift (section 6(3), PDF p.2): every act under section 3 of the Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law, 5710-1950 in respect of Israel lands shall be done by the Israel Lands Administration; that Law’s section 4 is repealed and part of its section 5 deleted, and its competence is expressly subjected to the Basic Law: Israel Lands and the Israel Lands Law, 5720-1960.
- Subjection (section 1, PDF p.1): this Law is subject to the Basic Law: Israel Lands and to the Israel Lands Law, 5720-1960, which is not in the file.
Where sources disagree
- Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation states that the Administration must administer JNF lands according to the JNF’s own criteria and that the JNF holds half the seats on its Council (PDF p.200-201). This Law states no Council composition and no JNF criterion (Israel Lands Administration Law, 5720-1960 (1960), PDF p.1-2). Both accounts are kept; the Israel Lands Law of the same package, cited in section 1, is not in this file and may be the text Makdisi’s specifics rest on.
Related pages
Israel Lands Administration Law, 5720-1960 (1960), Israel Land Administration, Basic Law: Israel Lands, Development Authority, Jewish National Fund