Is the UAE Purchasing Properties in East Jerusalem on Behalf of Israel?

MEMO – As reported by MEMO two weeks ago, Kamal Khatib, the Deputy Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, warned in an online statement on 6 June that an Emirati businessman close to the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Bin Zayed, is trying to buy Palestinian houses and properties in the old city of Jerusalem, especially those which are close to Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is alleged that he is doing this through a businessman from Jerusalem who’s affiliated with exiled former Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan.

According to Khatib, the businessman offered $5 million to a local Palestinian to buy his house adjacent to Al-Aqsa. The house owner, apparently, declined, even when the initial offer was raised to $20m. Khatib warned that such efforts are similar to those in 2014, when “Mohammed Bin Zayed’s regime” bought houses in Silwan and Wadi Hilwa in occupied East Jerusalem in order to sell them to Israeli settler organisations. CONTINUE READING