[WCUSP] Event promoting the sale of West Bank homes

[yvonne simmons]

Last update - 02:44 26/02/2007    
 
 
U.S. synagogue holds event promoting sale of West Bank
homes 
 
By The Associated Press 
 
TEANECK, New Jersey (AP) - As protesters chanted and
waved signs outside, roughly 250 American Jews were
able to get information on buying homes in the West
Bank during a Sunday event promoted as a way to help
Jewish settlers.

The sales pitch, organized by the Amana Settlement
Movement, took place in Teaneck, New Jersey at an
Orthodox synagogue, Congregation B'nai Yeshurun.

The event drew rebukes from an Israeli group, as well
as pro-Palestinian organizations, who say such efforts
undermine international peace efforts.


 
 
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The opposition groups believe the gathering
represented the first time West Bank homes have been
offered for sale in the United States.

They also questioned if the sale of what they claim is
illegally-occupied lands violates anti-discrimination
laws, but a New Jersey official has said U.S. state
and federal authorities have no jurisdiction on
overseas property.

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky said people were interested in
the houses as an investment and as a possible home for
themselves, as well as to make a public statement that
"there are Jews in the world who believe, want to send
a message that, the land belongs to us, to the Jewish
people, and we make that statement without any shame,
any hesitation."

Aliza Herbst, a representative from Amana, said the
company was turning to North American Jews to buy
homes so it can rent them out to young Israeli
families who want to move into the West Bank, but
can't afford to build.

One person who left the Teaneck event with plans on
buying was Jack Forgash, 60, of Teaneck, who said he
would see the purchase not only as an investment.

"I would consider it generosity, charity, a form of
giving somebody a chance to live in a house, not be
homeless, said Forgash, who described himself as a
business executive.

"I don't see a problem with Jews living there because
I recognize the fact that over a million Arabs are
living in Israel proper, and they came to be happy
with their lives," Forgash said.

"Every settler who is added to the West Bank makes the
realization of President Bush's vision of a two-state
solution more difficult," Ori Nir, a spokesman for
Americans for Peace Now, the sister organization of
Israel's largest peace group, Peace Now, said last
week.

Aaron Levitt, a member of Jews Against the Occupation,
said the sale was deliberately inflaming the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"The enemies of the U.S. are able to use the Israeli
occupation as a rallying cry," the 37-year-old Queens,
New York, resident said as he took a break from
protesting in a crowd of about 25 people.

Samer Khalaf, a member of the New Jersey Chapter of
the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee who
was also protesting, said his group wants to make sure
discrimination doesn't rear its ugly head in New
Jersey.

"This country, decades ago, got away from selling land
to someone based on their religion, ethnicity or race.
That's essentially what's going on," the 39-year-old
Paramus attorney said, adding that his group also
wants to discount the argument that the land can be
sold because it is not occupied.

Police were on site to make sure the protest remained
peaceful, which it did, even after a handful of
counter-protestors gathered in front of the synagogue.

In a letter to American Jews, Amana noted that the
Israeli government has ended new home subsidies for
settlers.

"Almost all communities in (the West Bank) are full,
with no possibility of accepting new young couples or
families," the letter said. "If we don't find a
solution now, we will create our own population
freeze, which may, in turn, begin a phenomenon ... of
families leaving in communities."

Single-family homes begin at $120,000, the letters
said. American 
Jews were asked to buy a home and then rent it to
settlers for about $250 
per month.
 
 
 
 
 



 
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