Local firms resist probe into claims of Holocaust victims

[Gimel]

In 1938, Dr. Marcus Spiegel, then the director of the Jewish National Fund in Poland, visited Mandatory Palestine. Upon his return, he told his family that he had purchased from the Palestine Land Development Corporation a dunam of land in the country. "I recall that he said the plot was located between Tel Aviv and Netanya," recalls his son, Eliezer Shafrir.

Spiegel, his wife and daughter died during the Holocaust. Shafrir, the only member of his family who survived, immigrated to Israel. Inspired by reports about European countries that have returned property to relatives of Jewish owners, Shafrir decided about four years ago to look for his family's lost plot of land.

<snip>

Many Jews who subsequently perished in the Holocaust purchased real estate in Mandatory Palestine before World War II. Some made these acquisitions out of Zionist motives; others were hoping to profit from the purchases, or were counting on using the land as a place to build a home as a fall-back, in the event of an emergency.

A report formulated immediately after the war established that such deceased Jews purchased over 600 homes, and hundreds of plots of land slated for construction or for agricultural use. The total amount of property purchased exceeded 20,000 dunams.

<snip>

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/373210.html

Pre-state land purchases that have yet to be recognized.

[drewb]

1. ok....

how would you like me to react to this???

:grouphug:

[GabysPoppy]

2. I will try to help you

First you have to tell me which sentences gave you trouble.

[Gimel]

3. Do I hear ?

..the silence is deafening.

[GabysPoppy]

4. Simon & Garfunkel sang about it

The sounds of silence