A Civil Administration official has been detained by the Palestinian Authority for more than a month and is accused of forging real estate documents working for a “gang” producing fraudulent land registration, Makor Rishon reported Sunday. The PA public prosecutor is expected to decide soon on the legal steps against the accused.
The PA Intelligence Service monitored the group’s activity for a long time, and eventually detained its member for questioning. Most of the details of the investigation are confidential. The man in question is Ghazi al-Khamis, a resident of Ramallah who has been employed for many years by the IDF officer in charge of abandoned property in Beit El.
Officials at the Palestinian Office for Land Protection and Combating the Settlements told Makor Rishon that forged real estate documents are being used by settlers to purchase land from Arabs and transfer it to settler-owned companies.
A source familiar with the case told Makor Rishon that “officials dealing with abandoned government property in Judea and Samaria have access to extremely valuable information, which they use for fraudulent land transfers to the highest bidder – Jewish or Arab.
In fact, according to the same source, these officials can pull out land registration or tax documents to find out who owns the land, then enter counterfeit transactions into the records easily. Once they find out who the owner is, and if said owner does not have heirs who might be aware of the property, these officials can register the land in the name of their client, effectively removing the land to a new owner.
The Unit for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories told Makor Rishon in response that “the matter is under investigation.”