Tenancy Status Palestinians remaining in the Jaffa area were displaced into absentee properties and granted only tenancy status, meaning they were not allowed to purchase or even renovate the property. Until 1985, residents in Jaffa were not granted permits to improve or alter the buildings, or to make extensions. This amounted to a situation where, due to natural growth, these residents were forced to expand their homes without permits to accommodate their now larger families. Jaffa remained relatively derelict and neglected until the late 1980s and early 1990s. When more Jewish-Israelis began to relocate there due to overcrowding in Tel Aviv, the Israeli authorities began to document unlicensed properties and government companies began to impose fines on properties that did not provide ownership papers or proper building permits. If the tenants, who were predominantly Palestinian, could not pay these fines to the owners of the building (the quasi-governmental or government agencies), they were evicted and their properties were put up for auction.83 By imposing tenancy status onto absentee properties, Palestinians became subject to discriminatory policies such as the systematic refusal of applications for property renovations and reparations, and the lack of or inadequate service provision. As stated by a former vice-chairman of the local building and planning committee to the press on one occasion in 2008: “The municipality froze all [building] permits in the area for a long period and would not even let people replace an asbestos roof. They turned all the residents of the neighborhood into offenders.”84 This resulted in the issuance of regular eviction orders that were based on violations of the tenancy contracts, like renovating without permits or squatting.85 This situation is widespread, as “every Palestinian in Jaffa is either directly facing eviction by the municipal authorities, or has a neighbor or relative who faces eviction. An estimated 500 families are in this situation.”86 While Palestinian residents in Jaffa were given the option to buy the property, 83 Adalah, “Modern Displacement of Palestinians in Yaffa”, May 2008, available at: https://www.adalah. org/uploads/oldfiles/Public/files/English/Publications/Articles/muhsin-yaffa-2008.pdf [accessed 19 September 2017]; Noam Leshem, Life after Ruin: The Struggles over Israel’s Depopulated Arab Spaces (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 42. 84 Jonathan Cook, “Jaffa ‘renewal plan’ aims at eviction,” The National, September 2008, available at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2008-09-15/affa-renewal-plan-aims-at-eviction/ [accessed 19 September 2017]. 85 Abu Shehadeh and Shbaytah, “Jaffa”, 12, supra note 77. 86 Id., 14. 34