Abbas: Fatah will use full force on Palestinians who sell Israelis land
Abbas went on to say that, regardless of Israeli intervention, the PA will find a way to enforce this policy.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: DECEMBER 11, 2020 13:46Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a virtual meeting with Palestinian factions over Israel and the United Arab Emirates' deal to normalise ties, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank September 3, 2020(photo credit: ALAA BADARNEH/POOL VIA REUTERS)
Head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas reiterated the PA policy that prohibits Palestinians from selling land to Israelis or Israel and the severity of consequences for those that violate this policy, according to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).“Fatah will come out with full force against anyone who has sold their conscience and allows themselves to abandon their values, their religion, and their faith and to pursue money and the illegal transfer of their property to the settler associations that are active in Jerusalem," said Abbas in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the official PA daily, according to PMW.Abbas went on to say that, regardless of Israeli intervention, the PA will find a way to enforce this policy."Regardless of which means of oppression are at its disposal, the occupation state [Israel] will not be able to prevent Fatah from reaching this handful [of people] who have prioritized money over the homeland,” PMW reported that Abbas went on to say.PA laws prohibit Palestinians from selling Palestinian-owned lands to “any man or judicial body of Israeli citizenship” according to laws originally enacted during the Jordanian rule of the West Bank (1948-1967). In 2014, Abbas issued a decree amending the land law penal code and increasing punishments for selling land to “hostile countries and their citizens.”The punishment was changed from “temporary forced labor” to “life imprisonment and forced labor.”Dozens of Palestinians have been arrested by the PA since its inception in 1993 on suspicion of selling land and houses to Jews, and many of the suspects have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms after conviction.Carmel Madadshahi contributed to this report.
