#21 RECENT STATEMENTS BY SENIOR PA OFFICIALS CONCERNING SALE OF
LAND TO JEWS
/97.05.21 (Communicated by Government Press Office)
#21 RECENT STATEMENTS BY SENIOR PA OFFICIALS CONCERNING SALE OF
LAND TO JEWS
/97.05.21 (Communicated by Government Press Office)

PA Chairman Yasser Arafat:
"We are taking forceful steps against those who do this. Recently,
a decision was passed to punish anyone who sells land, property or
homes. We are keeping track of land dealers and punishing them."
--- in an interview with a Lebanese newspaper (Al-Hawadath, May 16,
1997)

"Our law is a Jordanian law that we inherited, which applies to
both the West Bank and Gaza, and sets the death penalty for those
who sell land to Israelis... We are talking about a few traitors,
and we shall implement against them what is written in the law
books. It is our right and our obligation to defend our land."
--- in an interview with an Israeli newspaper (Yediot Ahronot, May
21, 1997)

The PA Cabinet:
"The Palestinian leadership listened to a report regarding the fact
that a number of land speculators have sold, via foreign
intermediaries, Palestinian land to foreign companies, which are in
fact Israeli companies working in the framework of the settlement
plans being carried out by the Israeli government. The Palestinian
leadership has decided to forbid the sale of land anywhere in
Palestine either directly or via intermediaries. The leadership has
empowered the legal authorities and security forces to implement
the decision on this matter and to punish anyone who has sold land
directly or has assisted in its sale. The sale of land constitutes
the gravest danger concerning the Judaization of the Palestinian
lands."
--- in a cabinet decision passed at its weekly meeting in Ramallah
on May 2-3, 1997 (Voice of Palestine, May 3, 1997)

PA Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein:
"This is a very dangerous act and there has been a decision to ban
it by putting anyone who sells even a centimeter on swift trial and
to seek the death penalty against them... These people are traitors
and Israel exploits them in expanding its settlements."
--- in an interview (Agence France Presse, May 5, 1997)

"I warned the land dealers several times through the media not to
play with fire. For us, whoever sells land to Jews and settlers is
more dangerous than collaborators. Therefore, they must be put on
trial and sentenced to death... they are traitors."
--- in an interview with an Israeli newspaper (Yediot Ahronot, May
20, 1997)

"Expect the unexpected... nobody from this moment will accept any
traitor who sells his land to Israelis."
--- cited in The Washington Post, May 20, 1997

PA Mufti Ikrama Sabri:
"Whoever is found to have sold land to Jews, his punishment is
death. It is forbidden to pray for him, it is forbidden to purify
his body before burial, and it is forbidden to bury him in a Muslim
cemetery. We are obligated to remind the public of this religious
law, so as not to allow Jews to purchase Arab land and property
with dollars they receive from America in order to throw us out of
this land."
--- in an interview with an Israeli newspaper (Yediot Ahronot, May
20,1997)

"The Zionist entity exists on seized land. The Jews remain enemies
because they expropriate lands, build settlements and pay high sums
to buy properties. They are the greatest enemies of us Muslims."
--- in a newspaper interview (The New York Times, May 18, 1997)

"We condemn this abhorrent crime and emphasize that despite all the
conspiracies, Jerusalem and Palestine from the river to the sea
will remain Islamic until judgment day... A land speculator for the
Jews, in whose birth certificate it states that he is a Muslim, was
killed. There is a possibility that his body will be brought to
Al-Aksa mosque or another mosque. We wish to remind you that
Islamic law forbids the washing and wrapping in shrouds of his body
and forbids praying for his soul or burying him in a Muslim
cemetery. We call upon you to beware. This should serve as a
lesson to all traitors and speculators who collaborate with the
Jews."
--- in his weekly sermon at Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount
(Voice of Palestine, May 9, 1997)

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