A woman petitioned for recognition of land rights in East Jerusalem by virtue of a series of transactions based on a power of attorney from 1999, while the purchasers contended that they had lawfully purchased the rights directly from the heirs.
The Court dismissed the claim because the woman failed to prove her rights to the property. In an action for the enforcement of a real estate sale, the burden of proving the authenticity of original documents rests with the party seeking to rely on them. Failure to produce a key witness (such as a seller residing abroad) creates an evidentiary presumption that works against the abstaining party. In the law of conflicting transactions, as long as the first transaction in time is not proven to be authentic, no superior right arises from it. In this case, the woman claimed to have purchased the rights from another woman holding a power of attorney allegedly granted to her approximately 25 years ago by a Brazilian citizen, without possession of the property ever being taken over the years. The power of attorney presented was not an original, and the central figures in this chain - specifically the grantor residing in Brazil - were not brought to testify. Conversely, the defendants' transaction was found to be valid, backed by a proper notary power of attorney and tax reports; therefore, their rights prevail.