NEWARK, N.J. -- An event at a Teaneck synagogue
offering information on buying homes on Israel's
West Bank is drawing opposition from an Israeli
group, as well as pro-Palestinian organizations, who
say such efforts undermine international peace
efforts.
They also questioned if the sale of what they
consider illegally occupied lands violates
anti-discrimination laws. However, a New Jersey
official said state and federal authorities have no
jurisdiction on overseas property.
The event, to be held Sunday at Congregation B'nai
Yeshurun, an Orthodox temple, is sponsored by the
Amana Settlement Movement, a group based in Israel.
Members of other groups said Friday they are
organizing a protest to occur Sunday outside the
temple.
The opposition groups believe the meeting represents
the first time West Bank homes have been offered for
sale in the United States.
In promotional material, Amana said, "Come learn how
you, a group of friends or even a community can own
a home and strengthen the Zionist dream."
"Amana will reliably manage and rent your home. Your
investment is insured, protected and 100% legal," it
continued. Amana named 10 settlements that are
participating.
The settlements are controversial because Israel
promised in the early 1990s to freeze settlement
construction on the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part
of the Oslo peace process. The lands were captured
in the 1967 Mideast War. In addition, under the 2003
"road map" peace plan, Israel agreed to remove
dozens of Jewish outposts from the West Bank.
Nearly 270,000 Jewish settlers, up 6 percent over
the past year, live in the West Bank among 2.4
million Palestinians. In the summer of 2005, Israel
evacuated all 8,500 settlers from the Gaza Strip.
"Every settler who is added to the West Bank makes
the realization of President Bush's vision of a
two-state solution more difficult," said Ori Nir, a
spokesman for Americans for Peace Now, the sister
organization of Israel's largest peace group, Peace
Now.
"Most Israelis believe now, are convinced, that the
settlements are not a security asset. In fact, they
are a security liability because they make it more
difficult, they complicate the prospects ... of
having a two-state solution," Nir said.
Hesham Mahmoud, a board member of the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee, said his community
believes any sales would involve land that the
settlers have no right to claim.
In addition, "It also discriminates against buyers,
since its fair to assume that if an Arab or non-Jew
shows up at that event they will not sell him that
land," said Mahmoud, of Rutherford.
Another group, New Jersey Solidarity-Activists for
the Liberation of Palestine, urged members to
protest the event. Its Web site accused Jewish
settlers of routinely attacking Palestinians.
About a dozen complaints about the event have been
sent to the state Division on Civil Rights,
spokesman Lee Moore said Friday.
However, the agency determined that it does not have
jurisdiction over such sales, and that the sales
also fall outside the federal Fair Housing Act,
Moore said.
A phone message and e-mails sent Friday to Amana
were not immediately returned.
The temple's leader, Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, also
did not return a message seeking comment.
In comments to The Record of Bergen County, he said
the event will take place in the sanctuary to
emphasize the notion of religious duty.
"It's not occupied land _ it's disputed, unallocated
land," Pruzansky told the newspaper. "And Israel
certainly has a valid claim."
Many Orthodox Jews believe that Jews have a right to
settle on land that are part of the biblical land of
Israel.
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 a month.