Photo: Protest against Israeli real estate mega-event on Long Island, New York.Credit: Liberation Photo
As the massacre of Palestinians intensifies in the Gaza Strip, Israel continues its policy of settlement and colonial expansion in the West Bank through illegal confiscation, sale, and occupation of Palestinian land. In fact, Israeli real estate companies are working to sell illegally confiscated Palestinian land to Americans and Canadians in order to expand settlements in the occupied territories. The real estate tour, dubbed “The Great Israeli Real Estate Event,” has planned several similar events in Canada and the northeastern United States, and has caused controversy by promoting the sale of Palestinian land in the illegally occupied West Bank. Brewed. The tour began on March 2nd and included in-person sales events scheduled throughout Montreal, Toronto, Teaneck, New Jersey, Cedarhurst, New York, and Brooklyn, New York.
The website for this series of events will advertise lectures and discussion topics such as apartment and building availability, legal advice, financial advice, and other relevant information for those who want to participate in the illegal sale of Palestinian land. was doing. Sponsors of this website include International Marketing & Promotion, Emanuel Group, Your Home in Israel, and Jewish Press.
Gidon Katz, founder and producer of the Great Israel Real Estate Event, said in a Feb. 22 interview with Arz Sheva Israel National News that organizers originally planned the sales event for mid-October 2023. However, it has been announced that it has been postponed. In the interview, he said now was a “good time to buy from a pragmatic perspective” and urged viewers to “seize the opportunity” before prices go up. He also emphasized the presence and importance of the “British community” across the region. This is the textbook definition of settler colonialism. It involves stealing land from indigenous peoples and selling it to others overseas in order to settle there. It also emphasizes the use of racism as a tool of empire, referring to the safety of the “British community” while other communities, namely those made up of indigenous Palestinians, are dangerous or undesirable. It suggests that.
Zionist land sales violate international law
These land sales are an insidious instrument of Israeli occupation and violate numerous laws and international treaties.
At the domestic level, it violates the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibits housing discrimination based on national origin, religion, ethnicity, sex, and other protected identity categories. These sales events were not widely open to the general public and were only distributed within the space and to those supporting the Zionist settler project. Palestinians, who are the rightful owners of the land these real estate tours sell, have no say in the process and are even prohibited from buying back their land.
This sale event and Israel’s ongoing theft of Palestinian land dates back to 1980, when UN Security Resolution 465 called on Israel to “dismantle existing settlements and, in particular, urgently cease and desist.” It has also ignored international calls for its demolition. , the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem.
Furthermore, international humanitarian law provides that Palestinians living in the occupied territories are protected under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “An occupying power shall not expel or transfer any part of its civilian population to the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “forced removal of individuals or groups and the expulsion of protected persons from occupied territory.” The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Conference of the Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention have repeatedly reaffirmed that this settlement violates IHL, most recently in the United Nations Security Council resolution passed in December 2016. It is also recognized by 2334.
In fact, the very presence of settlers in occupied territory is a violation of IHL. According to Article 8(2) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, “the direct or indirect transfer by an occupying Power of any or all of its civilian population to the occupied territory; deporting or deporting “any part of the population of an occupied territory within or outside this territory” to war “if committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a larger commission of such crimes” constitute a crime.
In addition to this, the Hague Regulations of 1907 provide that “the public property of the occupied population (land, forests, agricultural land, etc.) shall be subject to usufruct law.” The Hague relationship also prohibits the confiscation of private property. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, this means that Israel “has an obligation to ensure the protection, safety and welfare of people living under occupation and to ensure that they are able to live as normal a life as possible in accordance with the law.” He says he will. their own laws, culture, and traditions. ”
Zionist real estate events not welcome in US cities
It is clear that public consciousness is increasingly shifting in favor of Palestinians, with many comparing the history of settler colonialism in Palestine to that of similar indigenous lands across the United States and Canada. It is tied to a history of theft. Since October 7th, a formidable mass movement has grown to defend Palestine against Israeli occupation and apartheid policies, and this movement has not allowed these Zionist real estate events to take root in Palestinian cities. .
A major Israeli real estate event passed through Teaneck, New Jersey on March 10, sparking protests by hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists. Similarly, Long Island activists organized their own demonstration as the Zionist Congress passed through Cedarhurst, New York, on March 12. These events were also met with protests in Canada.
And in Brooklyn, New York, an in-person real estate event scheduled for March 13 was canceled following pressure and backlash from pro-Palestinian organizers. That night, after learning that the event would be moved to Zoom, protesters rushed in and continuously disrupted the online webinar, forcing event planners to end the virtual meeting.
The protests and disruption caused by these Zionist real estate tours, along with the massive mass mobilizations we have seen since October 7th, have left people wanting to disrupt, shut down, and rally for the liberation of the Palestinian people. It shows that it is. Land and Palestinians.
