Nazareth court revokes land tenders outside Afula won solely by Arabs due to price fixing

Source: Jerusalem Post

Head of the District Court, Judge Avraham Avraham said that the prospective buyers all issued identical or nearly identical bids, “seriously impairing the principle of equality”.

A Nazareth District Court judge on Sunday ruled to revoke the tender for dozens of land plots outside Afula that had been awarded solely to Arab Israelis from outside Afula, arguing that the bidders carried out unfair price fixing.

Head of the court, Judge Avraham Avraham said the prospective buyers all issued identical or nearly identical bids, “seriously impairing the principle of equality.”

The petition to cancel the land tender was filed January 4, against the Israel Lands Authority and 46 Arab-Israeli bidders who won tenders for the plots outside Afula. Hearings held by the ILA in March with the buyers concluded that they reached the same prices organically without any wrongdoing.

In December of last year, hundreds of local Afula residents held a demonstration outside city hall, calling for the housing tenders to be revoked because they were all won by Arabs who lived outside the city. They argued that the tenders were not widely advertised in the city and made claims that Arab buyers may have coordinated in order to ensure the construction of an Arab neighborhood in the city.

Read more: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Nazareth-court-revokes-land-tenders-outside-Afula-won-solely-by-Arabs-due-to-price-fixing-452189