A Palestinian advocacy group is accusing Israel of removing by stealth, what Palestinians see as a one of the key elements of any future peace deal – the right of return for refugees.
Adalah, a legal centre for Arab rights in Israel, claims that the possibility of Palestinians returning to the homes they left in what is now Israel is slowly being eroded away by the sale of an increasing number of their properties to private individuals.
In most cases, the original owners are either in exile or unable to afford the prices offered by tender on the Israel land administration website.
"Based on its law, Israel is allowed, as a state, to use this property. However they are not allowed to sell it to private hands," Hassan Jabareen, the managing director of Adalah, said. But at least 282 homes have been sold in the past two-and-a-half years, he told Al Jazeera.