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Land Transfers Regulations, 1940
Land Transfers Regulations, 1940
Jerusalem, 20 February 1940
In exercise of the powers vested in me by Article 16D of the Palestine Orders in Council, 1922 to 1939, I Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael, K.C.M.G., D.S.O, High Commissioner for Palestine, do hereby make the following regulations:-
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Citation and Commence- ment |
1. These regulations may be cited as the Land Transfers Regulations, 1940, and shall be deemed to have come into force on the eighteenth day of May, 1939. |
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Definitions of Zone A and Zone B |
2. For the purpose of these regulations there shall be two zones in Palestine which shall be demarcated as set out in the Schedule hereto. The boundaries of Zone A and Zone B are indicated on the Palestine Index to Villages and Settlements Map signed by the High Commissioner which is deposited in the office of the Director of Land Registration and is available for inspection during office hours. |
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Transfer of land within Zone A. |
3. The transfer of land situated within Zone A save to a Palestinian Arab shall be prohibited: Provided that the High Commissioner may, if he considers it desirable so to do - (a) permit of the mortgage of such land to such companies or societies as he may approve; (b) permit the transfer of such land by Palestinian Arabs to religious or charitable institutions; (c) permit the transfer of such land to persons not being Palestinian Arabs if in his opinion such transfer is necessary for the purpose of consolidating existing holdings, or of effecting the parcellation of village musha’ within the meaning of the Land (Settlement of Title) Ordinance; (d) in the case of land within the said Zone owned by persons not being Palestinian Arabs, by general or special order, permit the transfer of such land to persons not being Palestinian Arabs; Provided further that the High Commissioner may, if he considers it desirable so to do, authorize the transfer of any land situated within the said Zone to persons not being Palestinian Arabs, if application for the registration of such transfer was lodged in the Land Registry before the date of publication of these regulations in the Gazette; Provided further that this regulation shall not apply to any transfer of land made in the execution of any judgment or order of a Court, Chief Execution Officer or Land Settlement Officer - (a) in satisfaction of a mortgage executed and registered before the date of the coming into force of these regulations, or (b) delivered or made before the date of publication of these regulations in the Gazette. |
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Transfer of land within Zone B. |
4. The transfer of land situated within Zone B, by a Palestinian Arab save to a Palestinian Arab, shall be prohibited unless the person to whom such transfer is intended to be made has received the approval in writing of the High Commissioner which he may in his unfettered discretion grant or refuse: Provided that this regulation shall not apply to any transfer of land made in the execution of any judgment or order of a Court, Chief Execution Officer or Land Settlement Officer - (a) in satisfaction of a mortgage executed and registered before the date of the coming into force of these regulations, or (b) delivered or made before the date of publication of these regulations in the Gazette.
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Effect of transfer of land in contravention of these regulations. |
5. Any transfer of land made in contravention of the provisions of these regulations shall be null and void.
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Provisions with regard to affidavits. |
6.- (1) The High Commissioner may require any person making application for the High Commissioner's approval to the transfer of any land under these regulations, to support such application by affidavits by himself or any other person. (2) Any person - (a) who knowingly makes any false statement in any affidavit made for the purpose of these regulations, or (b) who knowingly uses for the purposes of these regulations any affidavit containing any false statement, is guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment for seven years. |
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Provisions of these regulations to be in addition to those of Land Transfer Ordinance. Cap. 81 |
7. The provisions of these regulations· shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the provisions of the Land Transfer Ordinance.
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Saving. |
8. Nothing in these regulations shall be deemed - (a) to apply to the transfer of any land situated within the area of any municipal corporation established from time to time under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Ordinance, 1934; or (b) to apply to the transfer of any public lands by or on behalf of the High Commissioner or to the transfer of any land to the High Commissioner in accordance with any Jaw or Ordinance or otherwise; or (c) to affect the power to expropriate land under the provisions of any law or Ordinance for the time being in force. |
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Definitions. |
9. For the purposes of these regulations :- "Palestinian Arab" shall be deemed to be an Arab who is ordinarily resident in Palestine. In case of any dispute as to whether a person is an Arab or whether he is ordinarily resident in Palestine, the question shall be referred to the High Commissioner whose decision thereon shall be final; "land" includes water, buildings, trees and any interest in, or right in, to or over, land, water, buildings or trees; "transfer" includes leases, mortgages, charges and any other dispositions.
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STATEMENT EXPLANATORY
OF THE LAND TRANSFERS REGULATIONS
Article 6 of the Mandate, which requires the Administration of Palestine to encourage close settlement by Jews on the land, also requires it to ensure that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced.
Paragraph 16 of the Statement of Policy* of His Majesty's Government regarding Palestine, dated the 17th May, 1939, drew attention to the fact that the Reports of several expert Commissions had indicated that, owing to the natural growth of the Arab population and the steady sale in recent years of Arab land to Jews, there was now in certain areas no room for further transfers of Arab land, whilst in some other areas such transfers of land must be restricted if Arab cultivators were to maintain their existing standard of life and a considerable landless Arab population was not soon to be created. It was therefore announced that the High Commissioner would be given general powers to prohibit and regulate transfers of land. The accompanying regulations have been made in order to give effect to this announcement. As stated in paragraph 17 of the Statement of Policy of May, 1939, the policy of Government will be directed towards the development of the land and the improvement, where possible, of methods of cultivation. In the light of such development it will be open to the High Commissioner, should he be satisfied that the "rights and position" of the Arab population will be duly preserved, to review and modify any orders passed relating to the prohibition or restriction of the transfer of land.
2. Two zones, Zone A and Zone B, have been demarcated in Palestine within which transfers of land will be controlled. In determining the boundaries of these zones, Government has bad special regard to the provisions of Article 6 of the Mandate. Zone A includes the hill country as a whole together with certain areas in the Gaza and Beersheba Sub-Districts where the land available is already insufficient for the support of the existing population; in this zone the transfer of land to a person other than a Palestinian Arab will be prohibited save in exceptional cases for which special provision is made in the regulations. The sanction of the High Commissioner required by the regulations to transfers of land in this zone between persons not being Palestinian Arabs may be accorded by general order, thus dispensing with the necessity for a special order in each individual case of this description.
3. In Zone B such transfers may be permitted in accordance with certain conditions set forth in paragraph 5 of this explanatory statement. This zone includes the Plains of Esdraelon and Jezreel, Eastern Galilee, the maritime plains between Haifa and Tantura and between the southern boundary of the Ramie Sub-District and Beer Tuviya, and the southern portion of the Beersheba Sub-District (the Negeb).
4. There will be no restrictions on transfers in those parts of Palestine not included in Zone A or Zone B. These parts include all municipal areas, the Haifa Industrial Zone described in Appendix 8 of the Report of the Palestine Partition Commission and roughly speaking the maritime plain between Tantura and the southern boundary of the Ramie Sub-District.
5. Transfers of land in Zone B by a Palestinian Arab to any person other than a Palestinian Arab will be null and void unless the sanction of the High Commissioner to the transfer has previously been sought and obtained. In this regard it is the desire of His Majesty's Government that the recommendations of recent Commissions should generally be followed and in pursuance of this policy the Secretary of State has accepted the recommendation of the High Commissioner that, while his final discretion shall be left unfettered, his powers will be exercised generally on the following lines.
Sanction to a transfer of land within Zone B by a Palestinian Arab to a person other than a Palestinian Arab will not ordinarily be granted unless the transfer can be shown to be either:-
(i) for the purpose of consolidating, extending, or facilitating the irrigation of holdings already in the possession of the transferee or of his community, the land to be transferred being contiguous to such holdings; or
(ii) for the purpose of enabling land held in undivided shares by the transferor and the transferee to be parcellated; or
(iii) in furtherance of some special scheme of development in the joint interests of both Arabs and Jews to which Government may have signified its approval.
6. The regulations have effect from the 18th May, 1939, but the High Commissioner is empowered, at his discretion, to sanction retrospectively any transfer of land in either Zone A or Zone B, which would be unlawful under the terms of the regulations, provided that application for the registration of such transfer was lodged in the Land Registry prior to the date of their publication. Generally speaking, he will require to be satisfied that the transaction was initiated bona fide before the 18th May, the onus of proof being on the transferee. In the absence of such sanction the transaction in question will be null and void.
7. Application for sanction to transfers of land, where required by the regulations, should be addressed to the District Commissioner of the District in which the land is situated who will forward it to the High Commissioner for his orders.
*The Statement of Policy refers to MacDonald White Paper of May 1939 (Editor’s note).
Source: Palestine Official Gazette, Supplement no. 2, issue no. 988, 28 February 1940.