Beyond the Headlines podcast: Land as a weapon against Palestinians

We discuss how Israelis are buying Palestinian real estate and housing lot by lot, and how it adds even more tension to a decades-old dispute

Adeeb Joudeh says his family were entrusted as the custodians of the ancient key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Reuters

Palestinian Adeeb Joudeh is a member of one of two families safeguarding the keys to Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and is a respected figure among all factions of the city. But recently, he has come under fire. Mr Joudeh allegedly sold his home to Jewish buyers – a mark of shame among Palestinians forced to contend with Israel’s occupying forces.

Land transactions are just one way Israelis are claiming even more land from Palestinians, but recently the Palestinian Authority has taken issue, as Wilson Fache reports from Jerusalem. He speaks to The National's Sofia Barbarani in this week's Beyond the Headlines podcast. Listen here:

The collective fear of losing land to settlers dates back to at least 1948, when more than 700,000 Arabs were forcefully displaced, leading the way to the formation of Israel. Today, penalties and ostracization await Palestinians who sell land to Jewish buyers.

We discuss the use of real estate as a weapon of expansion in Israel and the Palestinian citizens who choose to — or are forced — to sell land and homes to Jewish settlers.

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