Elias Khoury

Who is Elias Khoury?

Elias Daoud Khoury is a Jerusalem-based Palestinian Christian lawyer. He specializes in real property law. Elias made appeals several times to the Supreme Court of Israel, and has had Palestinian politicians among his clients in Israeli courts. Elias gained fame in the 1970s when he led a legal battle against the Israeli settlers of Sebastia and Elon Moreh.

Elias Khoury was born in the Galilee. His father has lost the family land to Israel in the 1948 war, Nakba, took citizenship in Israel and believed he could work patiently through Israeli law to get his land back. Elias studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and lived in the Beit Hanina and Shuafat neighborhoods of Jerusalem. He has a practice in Jerusalem, formerly in its Eastern part and now in the West, specializing in real property law. He has represented clients at all Israeli court levels, including the Supreme Court of Israel, as well as in planning commissions. In the framework of his public activities, he has expressed concerns with the impacts of the lack of Arab participation in the urban politics of Jerusalem, while expressing understanding for the rationale. In 2008 he expressed concerns with a planned real estate deal between his own Orthodox Church of Jerusalem and the State of Israel.