Rabbis ban selling homes to Arabs

Rabbis ban selling homes to Arabs Tue Dec 7, 2010 2:57PM

Israeli rabbis

Dozens of Israeli rabbis have ruled that Jewish people are not allowed to sell or rent their homes to Arabs in the occupied Palestinian territories, a report says.

The religious ruling says that "a Halachic (Jews religious law) prohibition applies to the renting out of apartments to Arabs," Israel Army radio reported on Tuesday.

Neighbors and acquaintances of whoever sells or rents an apartment to non-Jews in areas where Jews live must warn him, keep their distance from him and refrain from business with him, the rabbis said.

"After someone sells or rents just one flat, the value of all the neighboring flats drops... He who sells or rents causes his neighbours a big loss and his sin is great," the ruling says.

Shlomo Aviner, the head rabbi of the Jewish settlement of Beit El near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, was among the 50 rabbis who signed the ruling.

The rabbis join some 18 rabbis from the town of Safed, who issued a similar ruling in September.

The ruling comes after a new poll showed there was growing racism and intolerance among Israeli Jews, with one-third of them saying Tel Aviv should place Palestinians in internment camps.

The survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 33 percent of Israeli Jews support the idea of putting Palestinians in internment camps if a war breaks out.

According to the poll, 53 percent of Israeli Jews believe Tel Aviv has the right to deport Arab citizens, and some 55 percent say Tel Aviv should direct more funds to Jewish communities than to Palestinian communities.

The poll also revealed that almost half of Jewish Israelis would be bothered by having a Palestinian neighbor.

Israel occupied and then annexed the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) in the 1967 Six-Day War in a move not recognized by the international community.

AGB/PKH/AKM