Wiping Away the Traces – Update on Lifta Development Plans

Israeli planning officials have agreed not to demolish the mosque in the depopulated Palestinian village of Lifta. It will be designated as a public structure and the village cemetery will be marked as public space. The slight changes to the city development plan for Lifta to transform it into a commercial and residential center, do not meet objections of refugees from Lifta, Zochrot and Bimkom (Planners for Planning Rights).
The Local Committee for Building and Planning in Jerusalem has, in effect, given a green light to the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) to destroy the remains of Lifta and to construct a residential neighborhood in their place. Zochrot toured the village to protest against this destructive plan alongside refugees from the village. Zochrot has suggested the city should maintain the village as a memorial site to educate the Jewish Israeli public about the history of 1948 as long as Palestinian refugees are unable to return.

Palestinian refugees from Lifta continue to call for the right to return to their homes and properties. “I was born in Lifta,” an 80-year-old man from Lifta told the Committee during hearings in early February 2005. “I studied at the Lifta school, my father is buried in Lifta and I also request to be buried in Lifta.” The elderly refugee told silent committee members about his village, his longing for it, and about how the building plan disregards him entirely.

“It is hard to assess whether his speech, in the current situation, can directly influence the building plan,” said Zochrot, “but it would be hard to believe that it went over their heads.” A representative of the ILA, the initiators of the plan, explained that they are the legal owners of the property and therefore they can build on it. They also said that if it can be proven that there are refugees who own property in the village (according to the laws of the state) it will be returned.

Like other Palestinian refugees, Liftawi refugees are considered 'absentees' under Israel's 1950 Absentees' Property Law. Land held by the Israeli Custodian of Absentees' Property has been sold to the Israeli Development Authority (which can only sell land to the state, the Jewish National Fund or an institution approved by the government). The law effectively blocks restitution of property to its original owners.

According to the 2004 Draft Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons, “All refugees and displaced persons have the right to have restored to them housing and property of which they were deprived during the course of displacement, or to be compensated for any property that cannot be restored to them.”

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has called upon Israel to remedy the current situation in which “the right of many Palestinians to return and possess their homes in Israel is currently denied.” (CERD/C/304/Add.45) The Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights has called upon Israel to review its re-entry policies for Palestinians who wish to re-establish domicile in their homeland. (E/C.12/A/Add.27)

The plan for Lifta is to build a residential neighborhood and commercial area. (See, 'Wiping Away the Traces,' Majdal 23) In 1948 the village had a population of more than 2,000 persons. Villagers owned nearly 8,000 dunums of land, half of which was devoted to cereal grain and olive production. Today ruins of some houses, the mosque and the cemetery remain. Other homes were restored by Jewish residents who began moving in after the village was depopulated.

For more information on Zochrot, contact: [email protected]. Also see the Zochrot website: www.nakbainhebrew.org. The objection to the development plan for Lifta is available on the Zochrot website.

Parliamentarians Reaffirm Right of Return

Arab and other international parliamentarians have demanded an immediate return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland, in accordance with UN Resolution 194 at a February 2005 conference organized by the International Union of Parliamentarians for the Defense of the Palestinian Cause. Participants discussed the legal, political and human aspects of Palestinian refugees’ right of return and presented solutions to resolve the refugees' problems.

Parliamentarians called upon Arab countries and especially Lebanon to abolish all constraints imposed on Palestinian refugees, to improve their humanitarian conditions (including the right to employment and the right to own property), and to reject proposals for resettlement. They also agreed to ask their own parliaments to reconsider past legislation on the refugee issue and draft new legislation to maintain and improve the living conditions of Palestinian refugees.

The conference decided to establish two follow-up mechanisms. The first committee will monitor the status of Palestinian refugees and file an annual report to the International Parliamentarians Union, the Arab League and relevant international conferences. The second will hold talks about the refugee issue with European and American parliamentarians. The Union also agreed to write an action plan with specific goals to ensure the right to return.

A delegation of Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews also participated in the conference in Beirut. According to Rabbi Weiss, of the Naturei Karta (Orthodox Jews United Against Zionism), “The right of return may not be forgotten. Every human being is entitled to their own property, justly acquired and that which belonged to their parents and grandparents.”

Source: Nada Bakri, “Parliamentarians demand Palestinian Right of Return Conference Calls for Implementing Resolution 194,” Daily Star, 26 February 2005.