We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year THE GOODMANS RICK, ILENE, SHAYNA, ARIKA & MARA We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year FRANCES & LEONARD FINK A Very Happy and Healthy New Year to All Our Friends and Family. Best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year. Best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year. FERN & HERBERT BAKER MARCEL & SHIRLEY BEHAR DR. MARC NISSIM, JEROME & LESLIE, RICHARD DANIEL & USA ESTHER Best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year. Best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year. KAL & AADA BANDALENE Ft. Lauderdale, FL FRANCES BERESH We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year JEFFREY & KAREN KRAFT AIMEE, ELISSA & RACHEL We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year MEL & INEZ KEPES We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year LAWRENCE & PAMELA HOLZMAN & "THE CATS" Rockville, MD We wish our family and friends a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year KAROL & MARSHALL HERSHON Boca Raton, FL To All Our Relatives and Friends, Our wish for a year filled with happiness, health and prosperity. THE GORBACK FAMILY Esther, Jack & Joy Lyn, Les, Danielle & liana Benj, Seth & Jared A Very Happy and Healthy New Year to All Our Friends and Family. JUDY, HAROLD, NICOLE, JESSICA & ALLISON ETKIN A Very Happy and Healthy New Year to All Our Friends and Family. SAMUEL & MARILYN EINHORN May the New Year Bring To All Our Friends and Family — Health, Joy, Prosperity and Everything Good in Life. DENISE RICHMAN ALEXANDER & FAMILY 112 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1991 To All Our Relatives and Friends, Our wish for a year filled with happiness, health and prosperity. I ISRAEL Im"'"'" Lost Owners Continued from preceding page to check the properties — they didn't know who, what or where." Mr. Sivin told a joke about naive Americans buying land near the Hafia Opera House. There is no Haifa Opera House, he said, neither then nor today. In many cases, Mr. Sivin said, Americans were duped. Most heard about the proper- ties from agents who were selling the land. Sometimes the sales were legitimate, sometimes the property was a strip of beach or under water. The overwhelming number of legitimate lots were small and unsuitable for any but agricultural use. But "rezon- ing is very complicated and nearly impossible!' according to Mr. Sivin. He estimates that 90 per- cent of the properties sold were zoned at the time for agriculture. Although the property prices did not rise as much as some would have liked, land is still a precious commodity in Israel, the lawyer noted. Demand is high mainly because of people who want to utilize the land or speculators who buy as a hedge. Soviet olim are having a small but insignificant im- pact on the price of land. The process of proving ownership is difficult because the lax old system of registry "invites crooks!' A claimant must now sub- mit a probate will or an order of succession to prove descen- dance and get an affidavit from an Isreli resident citing that the original owner did in fact purchase the land. In early June, the Israeli Justice Ministry rezoned 50 acres of land in Beer Nabala, near Jerusalem, for residen- tial use by several Iraqi Jews. Those people were descen- dants of landowners who lost their records in a 1931 pogrom, Mr. Sivin said, ad- ding that "it was a 70-year dream come true." Mr. Sivin said the same thing could happen if groups of American claimants got together. But so far that is not happening. He said most of the land- owners are found in in- dividual cases, and that 99 percent of all people who discover that they own land sell it within weeks. Usually the land is bought by farmers or businesspeople. If you think you may own land in Israel, Martin Sivin can be reached at the Israel Development Co., 645 Fifth Avenue (East Wing, Sixth Floor), New York, New York, 10022 or telephone (212) 371-8532.