40 Israeli Land Grab and Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians on behalf of its rightful owner. On return of the owner the Custodian must return the property and the profits they derived from the property to the owner.161 However, Israel refuses the return of Palestinian refugees or forcibly displaced persons, and so their claim to their property and lands. Exceptions to this rule occur when individual Palestinians are permitted to return through family unification permits.162 The function of the Custodian for Abandoned Property was combined with that of the Custodian for Government Property by the Israeli administration. The combined body is called the Custodian for Government and Abandoned Property in Judea and Samaria.163 In effect the same procedures apply for both. As such, the recourse for an individual purporting to be the owner of an abandoned property is to appeal to the Military Appeals Committee with the burden of proof resting on that individual.164 Additional leeway provided for by the ‘good faith’ argument allows the Custodian to designate ‘absentee property’ even when owners can demonstrate their ownership, as was the case in Albina v. Custodian for Government Property in Judea and Samaria165 where the concerned individual was still residing in the West Bank. A State Comptroller Report notes that during the first few years of the Occupation, some 430,000 dunums (430 km2) of land was registered as ‘absentee property’.166 Confiscation for Public Purpose Expropriation of land for public use differs from expropriation for military needs in that, at least in theory, the expropriated land is ostensibly intended to benefit the entire population, including Palestinians. The legal mechanism employed to validate the expropriation for public needs finds its basis in the Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance (1943), originally enacted by the British.167 These ostensibly ‘public purposes’ include the building of government offices, creating lands and parks, and the like.168 161 Order Regarding Abandoned Property (Private Property) (Additional Provisions) (Judea and Samaria) 5727-1967 Sections 7 and 8. 162 State Comptroller, Annual Report, 1986, 1189. 163 B’Tselem, Land Grab, 59. 164 Order Regarding Abandoned Property (Private Property) (Judea and Samaria) 5727-1967 Section 10 (D). 165 Albina V. Custodian for Government Property in Judea and Samaria (n.d.). 166 State Comptroller, Annual Report. 167 BADIL and COHRE, Ruling Palestine, 43. 168 BADIL and COHRE, Ruling Palestine, 43.