52 Israeli Land Grab and Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians Article 17(a) outlines that, should the Custodian designate or “believe” that a certain property is owned by an absentee, then it is automatically considered so even if the rightful owner can later prove that they were not an ‘absentee’. If the property in question had already been sold to a third-party, then there is nothing the rightful owner could do to reclaim it, under the principle that the transaction was made in “good faith”.194 The Custodian is not permitted to sell or transfer ownership of property except to the Development Authority, a public body established under the Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law 5710-1950, who may “develop, complete, meliorate, merge, cultivate and reclaim property”.195 They may also “sell or otherwise dispose of, let, grant leases of, and mortgage property,” under the Basic Law.196 For his part, the Custodian is authorized to issue dispossession certificates, stop work orders and demolition orders to buildings considered to be ‘absentee property’. Reclaiming Property Article 28 of the Absentee Property Law allows the Custodian to consider whether to release the property to its previous owner or successor, however any decision to release must be approved by a special committee appointed by the government.197 As noted above, the assumption of “good faith” on behalf of the Custodian makes it very difficult for a rightful owner to reclaim their property even with proof of ownership particularly when the property has already been transferred to a third party. Present Absentees – ‘absentees’ residing in Israel – are entitled to claim compensation for properties seized under the Absentee Property (Compensation) Law, 1973. This law, however, imposes a time constraint in that compensation may only be sought up to 15 years after the enactment of the law (1 July 1973) or two years from the day that the claimant became a resident of Israel. Effectively, the law expired in 1988. 194 Absentees Property Law, Section 17(a) states: “Any transaction made in good faith between the Custodian and another person in respect of property which the Custodian considered, at the time of the transaction, to be vested property shall not be invalidated and shall remain in force even if is proved that the property was not at the time vested property” 195 Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law 5710-1950, 1950; available from http://www. israellawresourcecenter.org/israellaws/fulltext/devauthoritylaw.htm Section 3(3). 196 Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law 5710-1950 Section 3(4). 197 Absentees´ Property Law 5710-1950, 1950; available from http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/E0 B719E95E3B494885256F9A005AB90A Sections 28-29.