Land in Israel – Private Property or Public Trust?
Professor Derek Penslar

A key issue in Israel's social protest movement is housing.  The scarcity and high price of housing in Israel raise questions about how real estate in Israel is acquired, transferred and developed. Professor Penslar will use examples from the history of the Zionist movement and state of Israel to better understand whether land in Israel is private property or a public trust, and how the real estate market reflects the condition of the Israeli economy as a whole.

Background Reading

Getting a grip on the land grab

Rami Levy Blames High Housing Prices on ILA

How The ILA Jacked Up Housing Prices

Professor Derek Penslar

Derek J. Penslar is the Samuel Zacks Professor of Jewish History at The University of Toronto. His publications focus on Jewish political, economic, and cultural life in modern Europe, particularly Germany, and on the history of the Zionist movement and state of Israel. 

His books include Zionism and Technocracy:  The Engineering of Jewish Settlement in Palestine, 1870-1918 ; In Search of Jewish Community: Jewish Identities in Germany and Austria, 1918-1933 (co-edited with Michael Brenner), Shylock's Children: Economics and Jewish Identity in Modern Europe ; Orientalism and the Jews (co-edited with Ivan Kalmar); Contemporary Antisemitism: Canada and the World and Israel in History: The Jewish State in Comparative Perspective (2006). 

His current projects include a book on Jewish attitudes towards war and the military in modern history and a documentary history of Zionism. Professor Penslar is the Incoming Chair of Israeli Studies, St. Anne's College, Oxford University (2012).

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