The Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution organised a workshop entitled \"A legal reading of the housing projects for Gaza employees against their financial dues\".
\nPapers addressing different aspects of the workshop's subject were presented by Mr. Nafez Al-Madhoun, secretary-general of the Legislative Council, legal counsel Mr. Abdel Karim Shubair, Eng. Ibrahim Radwan, head of the Land Authority, Mr. Salama Bseiso, deputy head of the Bar Association, and Mr. Hassan Abu Riyala, deputy head of the Land Authority. A number of lawyers, legal advisers, notables and mukhtars also attended the workshop.
\nYounis Al-Tahrawi, coordinator of the project \"Towards a more responsive justice system in the Gaza Strip (Istijaba)\", funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and aiming to improve the justice system in the Gaza Strip so as to make it more responsive, explained that this workshop forms part of the project's activities. He said the title was chosen because of the proposal that was to be submitted to the government in Gaza on setting up housing projects for Gaza employees against their dues: \"It is part of our responsibilities, so we held this workshop with specialists to carry out a legal reading of this proposal, to clarify it and to establish how far it is consistent with the text of the law. Through a purposeful legal discussion, a number of recommendations in this area were reached, and we in the legal unit of the Palestinian Center will hold meetings to follow this matter up with the Land Authority and the competent bodies concerned.\"<\/p>\n
For his part, Mr. Nafez Al-Madhoun, secretary-general of the Legislative Council, explained that the matter under discussion is housing projects, work on which began in the 1990s. He stressed that a citizen who has worked for ten years has a right to housing, since Article 26 of the Basic Law provides that \"adequate housing is a right of every citizen, and the Palestinian Authority shall seek to provide housing for those who have none\". He explained that no allocation is made to those on limited incomes or to those on private incomes; rather, the land is disposed of at a price per square metre, meaning that when land is sold at the price at which it is sold in the private sector, that does not amount to a waste of public money. He noted that an employee in Gaza is owed a debt by the government and that the state is legally obliged to provide housing, that the door has been opened to housing projects but take-up is weak, and that the decision on distributing and owning land falls within the powers of the head of the Land Authority. The Legislative Council's role is limited to oversight and follow-up of how the land share is distributed and to ensuring that citizens are included on an equal footing with employees, the only difference between citizen and employee being payment of the price.<\/p>\n
Legal counsel Abdel Karim Shubair explained that the legal position is against the land distribution policy, because the authority to grant or issue an allocation decision lies with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. There is a decree providing that government land may not be disposed of except through a committee formed of several ministries, and there must be an authorisation from the president for that committee to allocate a plot of land for projects of this kind. He pointed out that the legal position announced is that public funds may not be disposed of except under laws and decisions issued by the president, and explained that selling the land at the open market price does not serve the citizen.<\/p>\n
For his part, Mr. Ibrahim Radwan, head of the Land Authority, said there is a misconception about the question of distribution and that he differs on how the matter is being framed: \"We do not have a plan to distribute land; we have a plan of housing projects approved from 1994 to 2011 under the legal system, which housing associations are meant to carry out. There is also the salaries problem, which in my view is a crime against humanity, and whoever contributes to it in word is a party to it. With the housing projects we are trying to ease the salaries problem, not to solve it completely. Under the powers of my office I can manage this land and sign on behalf of the High Commissioner, the president, on this law and act on it. There is a decree issued in 2002 on land allocation, under which a committee is formed that submits its request to the prime minister and the president approves it.\" He stressed that the matter is being studied from a legal standpoint so that it can be defended in court.<\/p>\n
Mr. Salama Bseiso, former deputy head of the Bar Association and a member of the Arab Lawyers Union, attributed all the disputes now taking place to the political division that has reached every aspect of life. He noted that many problems will arise once the housing projects plan is carried out, chief among them how the citizen's future dues will be dealt with after receiving the dues accumulated up to 2016. He also asked whether the housing units distributed to employees would cover their needs and living expenses, adding that if the projects took the form of associations as provided for in the law of 1994, and if they also included citizens, there would be no objection to that.<\/p>\n
Mr. Hassan Abu Riyala, deputy head of the Land Authority, explained that the project was not put forward against the dues or to write them off, but only as a way of using housing projects to ease the crisis of paying employees' salaries. He said housing projects are governed not by a law but by a decision; that no land is registered in the name of the head of the Authority but in the name of the Palestinian National Authority, and any land extract is issued in the Authority's name; and that anyone who wishes to register and holds Palestinian citizenship may apply to us for the housing projects and their file will be accepted in due form, with no one excluded, whether among those who withheld their work or others. He also said that the higher committee is managing the matter until the difficulty is resolved.<\/p>\n
At the end of the meeting the floor was opened for discussion, during which questions were put to the head of the Land Authority and his deputy, to the Legislative Council and to the lawyers specialising in this matter. The answers centred on the points that these projects are a decision approved by the president; that they are projects and not land; that they are not binding on all employees, since otherwise they would become contracts of adhesion; and that they are no substitute for employees' full dues but serve only to ease the salaries crisis.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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