Injustice and stupidity in Jerusalem.

Quote:

In July 2004, Israel's cabinet adopted a decision that was neither made public nor even published in the official government gazette, Reshumot: to apply the Absentee Property Law to East Jerusalem, and thereby to confiscate thousands of dunams of land from owners who live in the West Bank. The reason for the decision was security-related: Since in practice, West Bank residents are barred from entering East Jerusalem because of the intifada, the cabinet decided to enact an official measure that would prevent any use of these lands by their owners in the future as well, and would explicitly state that henceforth their property belongs to the State of Israel... The decision to once again apply this law has caused thousands of Palestinians, including many who live right next to their confiscated lands, to lose property overnight worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and for which no one intends to compensate them... It is impossible not to deem the cabinet's decision theft, as well as an act of state stupidity of the highest order.