Ammon News - AMMONNEWS (Exclusive) - Palestinian Ambassador in Amman Attallah Al Khairi rejected Israel's plans to implement the Absentee Property Law by confiscating lands and properties of Palestinians in East Jerusalem as it did with the properties left behind by Palestinians who fled in 1948.

The ambassador said in exclusive statements to 'Ammon News' that "this measure is irrational and categorically rejected, we do not recognize it or recognize the settlements being carried out there."

"Jerusalem is part and parcel of 1967 Palestinian land," he added.

Khairi noted that the negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis include Jerusalem, and that any measure taken by Israel in Jerusalem is in violation of international laws and conventions.

Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein had recently informed the Israeli Supreme Court that the government is planning to apply the Absentee Property Law to properties in East Jerusalem and confiscate lands and properties left behind by their owners who fled to what Israel dubs "enemy states" and properties in East Jerusalem that belong to Palestinians now residing in the Palestinian territories.

The issue was recently stirred after an Israeli judicial panel from the Supreme Court ordered Weinstein to inform the Supreme Court whether the Israeli government intends to apply the 1950 Absentee Property Law on East Jerusalem properties following appeals by four Palestinians to reclaim their properties confiscated in Jabal Abu Ghneim.

The Jerusalem District Court had ruled in favor of two appeals, and against two others.

The Absentee Property Law was passed in 1950 to give legal grounds for the Israeli state to confiscate lands and properties of Palestinian refugees who fled their neighborhoods following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The law replaced the emergency Abandoned Property Law of 1948 allowing Israel to sell the properties, much of which was sold to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the israeli Land Administration (ILA).