Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked announced today that she intended to bring before the ministerial legislation committee on Sunday the bill proposed by MK Rachel Azaria (Kulanu) to protect the residents in housing on land owned by the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem that they leased decades ago as secondary lessees of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). The Greek Orthodox Church sold the land to Israeli developers who plan to evict the residents from their homes. After the bill is approved by the ministerial committee, it will be brought before the Knesset plenum next Wednesday. It will then be joined to the government bill that Shaked will raise shortly.
The bill seeks to nationalize the land that the Greek Orthodox Church leased to the JNF in the 1950s. The land was then sub-leased for 99 years to the residents. Sources inform "Globes" that the reason that the bill proposed by Azaria in July 2017 is again on the agenda is that negotiations between the developers who bought the rights in the land and the residents living there have broken down.
Legal uncertainty has arisen in the past few years over the church lands in Jerusalem, after rights, or partial rights, were sold to private buyers, some of them unknown. Following the transfer of rights, the residents found themselves with the end of the leases signed in the 1950s on the horizon, and with the prospect of having to pay large sums to extend them.
The bill proposes transferring the rights in the land sold to private parties to the state in return for compensation.
Shaked appointed a committee to recommend the right solution for the residents and examine the legal possibilities. Shaked said today, "It would have been right for the JNF to fulfil its obligation in principle years ago and to have bought the church lands, which would have averted this legal tangle. Since this was not done, our obligation as the state is to protect the residents who leased the land from the JNF in good faith. We must not abandon them in the face of strong developers."
In the past, sources in the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem reacted angrily to the bill that was proposed, telling "Globes", "This is another shameful step in the systematic abuse of the churches and of the Christian minority in Israel, in the attempt to violate the status quo and agreements that are in place."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 18, 2018
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