Elias Khoury (lawyer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Lebanese writer, see Elias Khoury (writer).

Elias Daoud Khoury (Arabic: الياس داؤد خوري‎) is an Arab-Israeli and Jerusalem-based lawyer.^[1] He specializes in real property law. He appealed several times to the Supreme Court of Israel, and has had Palestinian politicians among his clients in Israeli courts.^[2]^[3] He is the father and son of terrorism victims.

Elias Khoury was born in Galilee. He studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and lived in the Beit Hanina and Shuafat neighborhoods of Jerusalem.^[1] 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 Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem and the State of Israel.^[4]

Both Khoury's father and son were killed in Palestinian terrorist attacks. Khoury's father, Daoud Khoury, was killed when a booby-trapped refrigerator exploded in Zion Square. Elias' son, George Khoury, was murdered from gunfire on March 19, 2004, while jogging in the neighborhood of French Hill in Jerusalem. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military branch of the Fatah movement, claimed responsibility. After it became clear that the victim was an Arab Israeli it apologized, and offered to declare him a martyr for the Palestinian cause. Khoury refused the organisation's offer.^[2]^[5]