A Palestinian American who facilitated the sale of an apartment by Arabs to Israeli Jews was condemned to life in prison, with hard labor, by a Palestinian Authority court on Monday.
“In accordance with the instructions of clause 2/274 of the criminal procedures law, the Grand Criminal Court, which convened in Ramallah, convicted the accused I.A. on the charges attributed to him—an attempt to cut off part of the Palestinian territories and annex them to a foreign state [as described in] Penal Code Number 16 of 1960. Relying on the conviction and in accordance with the instructions of clause 2 of Decision with Legislative Force Number 20 of 2014, the court sentenced him to life with hard labor. The lawsuit was submitted to the court on Dec. 23, 2018, and the verdict was given approximately a week later.” [WAFA, official P.A. news agency, Dec. 31, 2018]
The basis for the P.A.’s prosecution of Palestinians for selling land to Jews is article 114 of the Jordanian Criminal Code (1960), which the P.A. later adopted. The original Jordanian provision stated that a person who attempts to sever any part of the Jordanian territory in order to annex it to a foreign state will be subject to at least five years of hard labor.
In 2014, P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas passed an amendment to the law—Government Decision with Legislative Effect (No. 20), 2014—in which he raised the maximum sentence to life imprisonment with hard labor.
The prosecution of Palestinians for selling land to Jews is not new and enjoys overwhelming Palestinian support.
Full report at PMW.