Did You Know? Palestinian Law Says Selling Land to Jews ‘Punishable by Death’

By Palestinian Authority decree, Arabs face the death penalty if they're caught selling their land to Jews.

It's a law that's been in place since before Israel declared statehood in 1948, and while the decree is apparently well known in the region, it is relatively unknown in the West.

The Christian Broadcasting Network reports on a man whose death, his brother believes, was caused because people believe he sold his house to Jewish settlers:

"Who killed him nobody knows, but it was because of the house," said resident Abraham.

Abraham told CBN his brother was innocent, and said the Jewish residents even said they bought it through someone else. Nevertheless, the situation is all too common, with some real estate transactions even including extra money for the Arab sellers to leave the region and settle somewhere safer.

According to CBN:

Israeli correspondent Pinchas Inbari said it's widely known that under the Palestinian Authority, an Arab caught selling land to Jews faces the death penalty.

"People have already been executed on these charges or to be killed by the militias, by Fatah, or the Islamic jihad. or whatever you have," Inbari said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought up the law when speaking to members of the foreign press earlier this year:

"Ten minutes from here in the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, there is a law, a decree that if you sell land to Jews, it's punishable by death," Netanyahu said. "Now you think that's something worthy of reporting?"

Watch CBN's full report below: