TEANECK, N.J. -- 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 Israel-based Amana
Settlement Movement, took place in Teaneck 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.
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
consider illegally occupied lands violates
anti-discrimination laws, but a New Jersey official
has said 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.
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.
Many Orthodox Jews believe that Jews have a right to
settle on lands that are part of the biblical land
of Israel.
Opposition groups, however, contend that increased
settlement damages efforts to create a Palestinian
state, a goal backed by the U.S. government.
"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, N.Y., 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 a month.
___
Associated Press writer Jeffrey Gold in Newark
contributed to this story.
