The Minister of Justice and the Minister of Finance have ordered negotiations with the entrepreneurs who purchased land in Jerusalem from the Greek Church, including the acceleration of the bill by Deputy Rachel Azaria regarding the expropriation of the land.
The government has begun negotiations with the group of entrepreneurs who purchased 600 dunams from the Greek Orthodox Church in the Nayot and Talbieh neighborhoods of Jerusalem. The aim of the discussions is to regulate the construction of 1,070 residential apartments in the neighborhood.
The official decision to create a negotiation team was made on Monday during a meeting attended by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, and Deputy Rachel Azaria, who is promoting a project for the expropriation of the entrepreneurs, Erez Kaminitz. Finance Minister Zeev Bielski and representatives from the Israel Land Administration (ILA), which manages the lands of the Jewish National Fund ( see article on the KKL ), decided to create a team composed of representatives from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice. This is an unprecedented decision, as since 2012 KKL-JNF and the Israel Lands Authority have always refused to talk to the entrepreneurs united under a company called Nayot Komemiyut.
During the meeting, it was also decided that Azaria’s bill would be promoted concurrently with the negotiations of the team in order to enhance the state’s bargaining power. According to the bill, the state will confiscate the lots from the entrepreneurs and compensate them for the amount they paid to the church plus 15% which is supposed to reflect the entrepreneurial profit. Azaria states that the developers paid about 100 million NIS for the land. The bill is supposed to allow the state to regulate the issue for a cost of 130 million NIS.
But the buyers can expect a much higher profit. The land appraiser Kobi Bir, who has been following the case for nearly 20 years, stated that the developers’ rental contracts (with the church) as well as with the JNF would allow them to demand 1 billion shekels. Considering that the rental contracts will expire in 2051, in 33 years, the value of the lands and buildings will be about 3.75 billion NIS.
This represents a capital gain for the group of Jewish buyers of over 3 billion shekels in the span of 7 years.
In 2011, Nayot Komemiyot purchased from the Greek Patriarchate the right to collect rental fees and to renew the contract in 2051.
Azaria intends to change the law since the land has been sold and no longer belongs to the church. During a meeting held on Monday, it was specified that it is important to advance this bill in the current Knesset session, which is expected to end in about six weeks. It is anticipated that if the law is approved, the entrepreneurs will petition the High Court of Justice to disqualify the law in order to compensate them in exchange for the land.
Jerusalem and its surroundings have seen numerous negotiations in recent years led by builders and entrepreneurs to bring more than 1,000 construction files in Jerusalem and its localities before 2019. The important point is that it is imperative to dissociate from the state and the Keren Kayemet, which are powerful competitors, and nothing prevents them from establishing or promulgating new laws to arrange the best possible benefits.
Israland Advisory, To ensure our investments in Jerusalem, we strongly recommend the massive acquisition of private lands only within a 20KM radius of Jerusalem.
