The Israeli cabinet has decided that more than half of the property in East Jerusalem is government property and may be sold or leased to Jews.

The new policy was agreed on last summer but was not revealed until last week.

The cabinet decision is based on the Absentee Property Law that defines an absentee as someone who at the time of the 1948 War of Independence "was in any part of the land of Israel that is outside the area of Israel."

The Absentee Property Law declares that buildings and property owned by "absentees" automatically become government property. Most of the property owners in East Jerusalem live in Judea and Samaria, which were part of Jordan until the country abandoned the land and its citizens during the Six-Day War in 1967.A lawyer representing Arabs has appealed to Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz to overturn the policy.

The revelation of the cabinet decision comes on the heels of secret purchases by Jews of Arab buildings and the renewal of Jewish neighborhoods in several areas. The Elad organization has bought dozens of buildings the past few years in the original City of David, opposite the entrance to the Western Wall (Kotel) plaza, and dozens of Jewish families live there.

The city of Jerusalem recently announced plans to build on an empty lot in east Jerusalem, and several Jewish neighborhoods have sprung up in places where Jews once lived until being forced out by Arab terrorism. (IsraelNationalNews © 01/30/05)