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Friday March 2, 2007

Land sale or land grab? Shul hosts West Bank real estate fair

by jacob berkman
jta

teaneck, n.j. | The “road map” peace plan may enjoin the Israeli government from expanding settlements in the West Bank, but that hasn’t stopped a private group from trying to pick up where the government was mandated to leave off.

Congregation B’nai Yeshurun, a modern Orthodox congregation in this New York suburb, sparked controversy Sunday, Feb. 25 with a real estate fair urging U.S. Jews to invest in West Bank homes. Outside, some 20 people protested, depicting it as an elaborate land grab.

The Israeli government was supposed to stop funding new building in the West Bank when the road map was adopted in 2003. That has forced settlers and their supporters to find private funding, and they must be succeeding: The Jewish population there is growing significantly faster than in Israel proper.

Binyanei Bar Amana, a contractor based in Jerusalem’s Ramat Eshkol neighborhood, urged those attending the real estate fair to spend tens of thousands of dollars on homes that could be rented out at cost to Jewish settlers in the disputed territory, which the Palestinians claim as their own.

Amana, a private, for-profit contractor, is offering to arrange bank loans — preferably with Bank Igud, which is associated with the project and is offering mortgages for up to 65 percent of a home’s price. Amana also will match potential renters with homeowners and, for a small fee, will act as a management company.

Amana is offering homes in 12 settlements. Some are within the West Bank security barrier, which many expect to be Israel’s future border if a Palestinian state is eventually established, but some are outside the barrier.

The homes range in price from $93,000 for 1,000 square feet in Otniel to $165,000 for 1,200 square feet in Kiryat Netafim. Teaneck resident Jack Fogash, 60, said he was considering buying two homes in the territories, calling it a sound investment and an act of charity to provide a place to live for Jews who cannot afford their own homes.

Fogash also said he did not see a problem with Jews living in the West Bank, since more than 1 million Arabs live in Israel.

Amana has 1,000 homes to sell, and Herbst insisted it was a moneymaking venture and an investment opportunity, not an ideological project. Six or seven sales were expected from Teaneck, she said.

Reporters were not admitted into the synagogue’s sanctuary, where organizers said there were some 250 prospective buyers.

The protesters were from a loose coalition of 11 organizations, according to Yoram Gelman, a member of Wespac, a political action group that supports what he called “peace and justice.”

“I feel terrible that my people are doing this,” said Gelman, who was born in Haifa but left with his family in 1945 when he was 5 years old. He now lives in Westchester County, N.Y., where Wespac is based.

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