WarSclerotic

A Palestinian Authority court in Ramallah on Monday sentenced Issam Akel, a Palestinian American and a resident of East Jerusalem, to life in prison for attempting to sell land to Jewish Israelis in Jerusalem, an official in the PA judiciary’s media office said.

Akel “was sentenced on Monday, but he can appeal the ruling,” the official, who asked to remain unnamed, told The Times of Israel.

A report on the PA judiciary’s website said an individual with the same initials as Akel was sentenced to life in prison for attempting “to annex part of the Palestinians’ lands to an alien state.”

The official confirmed that the report on the PA judiciary’s website was referring to Akel.

Manara Square in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (photo credit: Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Akel, a resident of Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina neighborhood, is a holder of a blue Israeli identification card. Since October, he has been in the PA’s custody.

The PA rarely arrests and carries out judicial proceedings against residents of Jerusalem who hold Israeli ID cards.

Asked about Akel’s sentencing, a US official said the American government had knowledge of reports about it.

“We are aware of reports that a US citizen has been sentenced by a Palestinian court. When a US citizen is incarcerated abroad, the US government works to provide all appropriate consular assistance,” the official said in a statement.

Palestinian law considers attempting to sell or selling land to Israeli Jews a punishable offense.

According to the law, possible punishments for trying to sell or selling land to Jewish Israelis include various degrees of hard labor and imprisonment as well as execution.

However, the law requires that PA President Mahmoud Abbas approve any death sentence, and he has not signed off on any executions since 2006.

Tourists look at the view of the Dome of the Rock and the Temple Mount from the lookout of the Mount of Olives overlooking the Old city of Jerusalem, on November 28, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Akel’s father, Jalal, denied in late November that his son had sold land to Israeli Jews.

“There is no evidence my son sold anything to Israelis, all charges are void,” Jalal told Reuters at the time.

Jalal did not answer phone calls Monday afternoon.

In November, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman called on Ramallah to release Akel.

“The Pal Authority has been holding US citizen Isaam Akel in prison for ~2 months,” Friedman tweeted on November 28. “His suspected ‘crime’? Selling land to a Jew. Akel’s incarceration is antithetical to the values of the US & to all who advocate the cause of peaceful coexistence. We demand his immediate release.”

Following Akel’s arrest, security coordination between Israel and the PA in parts of the West Bank adjacent to Jerusalem was halted, the Kan public broadcaster reported last Thursday.

Security coordination allows for the PA to operate in villages adjacent to Jerusalem, where it does not have a permanent security presence.

Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.