Access Denied

Hussein Abu Hussein is a Palestinian lawyer who practises in Um El Fahem, one of the largest Palestinian communities in Israel. He has been active in human rights and cultural organizations in the region for many years. He has handled many cases relating to land, discrimination, political prisoners and other issues affecting Palestinians who are citizens of Israel, including a number of test cases where he has invoked human rights arguments in the Israeli courts.Fiona McKay is a British solicitor and international human rights lawyer. She worked with Palestinian human rights organizations in Israel from 1988 to 1991, focussing on land rights, other aspects of discrimination and the rights of the Palestinian unrecognized villages and of the Bedouin in the Naqab. She then worked in Jerusalem as director of a legal service organization operating in the West Bank. Since 1995 she has worked on broader human rights and international justice issues.

• 1. Introduction2. Palestinian Access to Land in Perspective3. Dispossession by expropriation 4. Dispossession through denial of Palestinian Land rights, and forced eviction of Bedouin in the Naqab5. The Concept of "Israel Lands"6. Administration of 'Israel Lands': Policy towards the Palestinian Sector7. Control of Land Use: Planning and Housing8. The Phenomenon of the Palestinian "Unrecognized Villages"9. Conclusion BibliographyGlossary of TermsIndex

The Palestinian Question is essentially about competing claims to land, both within the occupied territories and Israel itself. This carefully written and thoroughly researched study shows how Israel has succeeded, by means contrary to international human rights standards, in reserving 94 per cent of the land of Israel for the exclusive use of its Jewish population. The dispossession of the land of the Palestinians within Israel by discriminatory laws and practices is examined in the context of Palestinian history, Israeli law and international standards. This excellent study serves as a timely reminder that the Palestine Question is not only about the occupied territories - it is also about the plight of Palestinians in Israel itself.' John Dugard, University of Leiden; Special rapporteur to the UN Commission on Human Rights on Violations of Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory In all settler colonies, control over land is in the heart of the conflict that will inevitably ensue between the natives and the settlers. Israel, being a settler colony is no exception to this rule. Its protracted conflict with the Palestinians, whether refugees outside their homeland or internal refugees, is focused on the control of land. This carefully researched book is the definitive work on the various modalities Israel has devised and utilized to systematically colonize Palestinian land, to secure control thereon, and to frustrate any attempt by the Palestinians to reclaim their properties.' Anis F. Kassim, Consulting Editor, The Palestine Yearbook of International Law