Court finds Israeli firm did not buy Hebron home, orders settlers out

The Jerusalem District Court has ruled that Israeli families living in a disputed Hebron home must leave within 45 days, after finding that an Israeli firm did not legally purchase the property from its original Palestinian owners.

The court rejected an appeal by “Tal Construction and Investment in Karnei Shomron,” which had initially argued that it had legally purchased the home from the Bakri family in Hebron’s Tel Rumeida neighborhood.

Three families have been living in the home since 2005.

The court earlier determined that the firm had not actually made the purchase from the real landowners, but rather from a third party, which falsified documents in order to carry out the purchase.

The Bakri House in Hebron. (Peace Now)

The firm subsequently argued that the purchase should stand because of an Ottoman era law which states that if a party has taken over an asset and invested more than its initial value, it buys the property for itself.

However, in rejecting the firm’s appeal, the court reiterated the position it took in March, which deemed that Tal Construction had not acquired the property “in good faith.”

— Jacob Magid