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Israeli settler groups are quick to sue Arabs who are living in allegedly Jewish owned property in East Jerusalem. But this might backfire, as Sima Kadmon points out in Yediot Achronot, Israel's best selling daily:
But beyond the destruction of the fabric of relations between Jews and Arabs, and beyond the act of penetration and takeover of Arab neighborhoods, the measures in Sheikh Jarrah put Israel into a considerable legal, political and historic bind: if Jews can sue Arabs for ownership of property before 1948, what will prevent Arabs, who own hundreds if not thousands of properties in West Jerusalem, to claim their ownership of them? What will stop them from demanding the eviction of thousands of tenants from properties that were owned by Arabs in Talbiya, Baka, German Colony, Talpiot, Abu Tor and other neighborhoods? In all of those neighborhoods, and not only in them, Jews live in houses that once belonged to Arabs.
Is it really in Israel’s interest to open up the discussion of historic rights to property from before 1948?
Then there's property in Jaffo, Haifa, Ashkelon and elsewhere to deal with...