PA daily highlights calls to “excommunicate” and “put on trial” Arabs who sold buildings to Jews

Headline: “Silwan: Settlers took control of three structures and land, and [Palestinian] families of the village emphasized the need to excommunicate the sellers”

“Settlers took control of three residential structures and land yesterday, Thursday [April 8, 2021], in Silwan (a predominantly Arab neighborhood near the Old City of Jerusalem, built above ruins of ancient Jerusalem -Ed.) in occupied Jerusalem (refers to Israelis moving into properties that had legally been purchased by the Israeli-Jewish organization Ateret Cohanim -Ed.)…

In the meeting that was held yesterday evening by families and tribes from the village of Silwan in southern occupied Jerusalem, the participants emphasized the need to collectively excommunicate those [Palestinians] selling real estate to the settlement associations and not to interact with them, be present at their events, and invite them to the national familial events, in an absolute and full excommunication of them and their family.

The participants emphasized the need to adhere to the fatwa (i.e., religious ruling) issued by the Palestinian Dar Al-Ifta (i.e., the official PA body for issuing religious rulings headed PA Grand Mufti Muhammad Hussein) regarding the ban on selling real estate to Jews in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine.

These families also said that whoever sold the three structures and the land has left the religion of Islam and must be excommunicated, must not be interacted with, not be prayed for, and not be buried in the Muslims’ cemeteries.

The families welcomed the decision of their counterparts among all the Jerusalem families to renounce the blood [connection] of the real estate sellers in the Silwan neighborhood, and [said] that Palestinian society ejects anyone who gives themselves permission to sell any inch of Palestinian real estate and land to the settlers…

National figures in Jerusalem emphasized to the [official PA news agency] WAFA the importance of involving the Palestinian [PA] legal system in pursuing the sellers and putting them on trial, even in absentia, so that justice can be done and the law can be implemented against anyone who has left the religious, national, and moral framework in Jerusalem.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 9, 2021]