VIDEO - Real estate to Russians as 'weapon' against Syrian missiles? Government ministers were expected Sunday to discuss a request to hand over the ownership of a building in the heart of Jerusalem to Russia.
The move was put forward by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ,Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni ,Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On and Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann.
The building in question, Sergey's Courtyard, was owned by the USSR until it severed its diplomatic ties with Israel in 1967. The building is worth some NIS 11 million (about $3.2 million), and some of its wings are currently being used by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.
Israel agreed to hand over the building to the USSR in 1990, but the move wasn't implemented due to the latter's disbandment. Since then, bureaucratic and diplomatic moves have prevented the transfer of the property, built in the end of the 19th century, to its original owners.
'Transit government cannot hand over property'
At least one element in Israel is expected to oppose this move. The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel wrote a letter to the prime minister, attorney general and cabinet secretary over the weekend, claiming that the property must not be handed over to the Russians.
"The current government is a transit government, and according to a Supreme Court ruling, its authority is limited to actions which are continuous 'maintenance actions' in their nature, and it cannot make important and irreversible decisions which future government will have to deal with.
"Transferring an important asset in the heart of Jerusalem to the ownership of a foreign and powerful country, which has interests in the region and imperial aspirations, is as important a decision as appointing so and so as a Supreme Court judge.
"If a collegial body, which two of its nine members are the members of a transit government, cannot appoint judges, the entire transit government is unauthorized to transfer an asset in the heart of the capital to the ownership of a foreign country," the forum wrote.
Another organization which objected to the move in the past was the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, for fear that its rental rights in the building would be damaged. Its claims were rejected.
Sergey's Courtyard in heart of Jerusalem (Photo: Meir Azulay)
Despite these objections, the government is accepted to approve the move. This "gift," Israel hopes, will serve as a goodwill gesture on behalf of Israel ahead of the difficult discussions Olmert is expected to hold in Moscow with President Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Olmert is expected to raise the issue of a fourth round of sanctions against Iran at the United Nations Security Council, which Moscow objects to. He will also ask the Russians to stop arming Syria with advanced weapons, including the improved S-300 aerial defense system and a land-to-land missile system, and inquire on a possibility of selling the advanced Sukhoi Su-37 jet.