Responding to the High Court’s recommendations, the Israeli government ended a policy dating back to the British Mandate under which it paid no compensation for land partially expropriated for public needs. According to the British regulations, the government could take up to a quarter of a private land parcel without paying a penny.
For decades, that law served Israel well in taking the land of Arab villages. In recent years, the law has increasingly been applied against Jews whose land was expropriated for infrastructural projects. In response to the outcry, the government decided to compensate in full.
