WARSAW
\nPoland and Israel have summoned each other\u2019s diplomats in a growing dispute over Poland\u2019s planned changes to property restitution rules.
\nIsrael and Jewish organizations say, those rules, would prevent Jewish claims for compensation or property seized during the Holocaust and communist times.
\nOn Monday, Israeli charge d \u2018affaires Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon met with Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski, who insisted the new regulations do not bar any property claims, which should be made through courts. Poland also says it mustn\u2019t be made responsible for property seizures by Nazi Germany during its World War II occupation of Poland.
\n\u201cThese regulations are not directed against anyone,\u201d Jablonski said, adding that there is a lot of misunderstanding of their aim as they give the law a steady framework.
\nJablonski later said Ben-Ari Yaalon repeated the embassy\u2019s statement from last week, which called the new regulations \u201cimmoral\u201d and said they \u201cwill have a serious impact\u201d on bilateral relations.
\nPoland\u2019s ambassador to Israel, Marek Magierowski, was at the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Sunday, explaining the new regulations made to align with a 2015 ruling by the top constitutional court.
\nPoland\u2019s parliament is processing the changes to prevent ownership and other administrative decisions from being declared void after 30 years. It says this is a response to fraud and irregularities that have emerged in the restitution process. The changes still require approval from the Senate and the president.
\nThe World Jewish Restitution Organization said it was \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d by Poland\u2019s response to the concerns.
\n\u201cThe house or shop or factory in a town in Poland affected by this legislation was not taken by Germany, it was taken by Poland. It sits today in Poland and its use has benefited Poland for over 70 years. It is time to recognize this fact and for Poland to do justice for those who suffered so much,\u201d said the group\u2019s chief, Gideon Taylor.
\nLast week, the US State Department weighed in, with spokesperson Ned Price tweeting that the changes were a \u201cstep in the wrong direction\u201d and urged Poland \u201cnot to move this legislation forward.\u201d
\nBefore World War II, Poland was home to Europe\u2019s largest Jewish community of some 3.5 million people. Most were killed in the Holocaust under Nazi Germany\u2019s occupation and their property was confiscated. Poland\u2019s post-war communist authorities seized those properties, along with the property of non-Jewish owners in Warsaw and other cities. The end of communism in 1989 opened the door to restitution claims, most of which would be coming from Poles.
\nThe still unresolved matter has been a constant source of bitterness and political tension between Poland and Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WARSAW Poland and Israel have summoned each other\u2019s diplomats in a growing dispute over Poland\u2019s planned changes to property restitution rules. Israel and Jewish organizations say, those rules, would prevent Jewish claims for compensation or property seized during the Holocaust and communist times. On Monday, Israeli charge d \u2018affaires Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon met with Polish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-200703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n