Civil Case (Haifa) 27064-10-22 Mahmoud Haj v. the heiress of the late Jiris Najib Khoury

Judgment

A lawsuit in which the main discussion focuses on a sale transaction that took place between the plaintiff-buyer Mahmoud Haj and the deceased-seller Jarays Najib Khoury z"l, in the land owned by him and his brother, in which a certain plot was sold to the plaintiff according to an alleged distribution map.  In a previous lawsuit, filed by the brother of the late Jareis Khoury to annul the agreement, it was determined in the District Court and in the appeal filed with the Supreme Court (Civil Case 52681-10-14 and Civil Appeal 1338/19 respectively) that the transaction cannot be enforced as it is, i.e., by transferring the rights sold in a certain part of the land and the law of the transaction as it is a cancellation while giving an order for the return of the proceeds.  It was also determined that it was not proven that the distribution maps presented by both parties received the consent of all the registered landowners.  Taking into account the note recorded in the judgment given by the Supreme Court, according to which it is possible to enforce the transaction approximately, by granting rights to the buyer in an indefinite part, the lawsuit was filed before me, which seeks to enforce the agreement approximate and in indefinite parts.

Defendants 1-11, who are the heirs of the deceased Jeris Khoury, his brother and the local authority, oppose the claim and claim that at the time of the transaction, the deceased Jeris Khoury did not have any rights in the land.  They further claim that for various reasons that we will discuss below, the agreement cannot be enforced approximately.  The judgment will deal mainly with this question.

Background and sequence of events:

1. Plot 21 in Block 18763 with an area of 12,282 square meters of Kafr Yasif land (hereinafter: "The Real Estate") was originally owned by the late Hannah Khoury z"l (2/12 plots), her late husband Elias Khoury z"l (5/12 plots) and his late brother Najib Khoury z"l (5/12 plots). To the late Najib Khoury (hereinafter: "Najib") nine children, among them the late Pastor Jaris Najib Khoury (hereinafter: "Jereys") who was sued through his heir, Ms. Samira Khoury, defendant No.  1.  Najib's heirs are defendants 2-10, Jaris's brothers and sisters, those who are among the living, or the heirs of those who have passed away over the years.  The late Hannah and Elias Khoury, who owned 7/12 of the land, were childless, and therefore adopted defendant No.  2 Mr. Munir Najib Khoury, one of Najib's children and Jerrays' brother (hereinafter: "Munir").  Najib's children, including Munir, inherited his share of the land in equal parts (BassAntitrust 5/12 parts), while Munir alone inherited the share of the deceased Elias and Hannah z"l (bassAntitrust 7/12 parts), and their parts were registered in his name.  Thus, Munir's share in the land far exceeded his brother's.

The Ottoman Settlement [Old Version] 1916As a result, Munir relinquished his share of the inheritance of Najib in favor of his brother.  According to the defendants, it was agreed that all four of Najib's daughters would give up their share, each in favor of one brother, except for Munir.  Ultimately, according to the registry, Najib's share of the land was registered in the name of all his children, except for Munir.  Sisters Maha, Afaf and Rehab passed their share to their brothers: Afif, Yosef and Jarays, respectively.  The defendants claim that there is an agreement to divide the land into 22 lots, in accordance with a division plan marked by the District Court in a previous proceeding M/8 (hereinafter: "the M/8 Partition Plan").