The October 7 massacre as a research call to rethink Israel’s antiquated national land policy
Many of the victims of the massacre by Hamas on Oct. 7 were members of the communal (kibbutzim) and cooperative (moshavim) villages located next to the barrier from Gaza. An unexposed fact is that their land and housing rights and thus their household capital – even after several generations – are worse than under feudal landlords. This holds for such village across Israel. Our socio-legal-empirical research seeks to raise the veil from this archaic and unjust public policy which has become entrenched and blind. Without extensive legal and policy rethinking, the survivors returning to the villages after reconstruction will still have to live under a quasi-feudal land regime.
