Tension that once seemed confined to Israel and the Palestinian territories spilled over into a Teaneck street Sunday, as an Israeli company asked American Jews to invest in housing in the West Bank.

A synagogue leader said people filled the sanctuary of Congregation B'nai Yeshurun for a real estate pitch made by the Amana Settlement Movement. The group assured potential investors of the legalities of the transaction.

Outside, nearly 30 demonstrators criticized the venture using signs, vocal cords and megaphones to call it illegal and immoral.

Religion, real estate and politics fueled the protest and counterprotest that would slow traffic in a normally sleepy part of the town. At issue: whether Jews can grow settled portions of the West Bank.

"This is a great shame on the Jewish people, given what has happened to them," said protester Yoram Gelman, a member of the Westchester County, N.Y.-based peace group WESPAC who was born in Haifa, Israel. "They are doing even worse to others."

Those who attended the presentation saw things differently. Many said they would consider the idea of buying in the disputed territories.

"Arabs live in Israel; why can't Jews live amongst Palestinians?" asked Bernard Kornmehl of Teaneck.

The nearly hour-long presentation concluded with a tense verbal volley across West Englewood Avenue, as potential investors held an impromptu counterdemonstration.

"Remember 9/11!" some shouted, holding signs that said "Go Home -- Protest Arab Murder and Terrorism."

Across West Englewood Avenue in the protest pen, all four of Ibtisam Ali's elementary-school-age boys stood behind a sign that read, "Support Ethnic Cleansing: Buy Stolen Palestinian Land Cheap," as they waved Palestinian flags.

"I get disappointed," Ali, of Roselle Park, said of events such as this. "I feel like we get close to peace and then we take a step back."

Amana wants to build 1,000 units within a year in 12 West Bank sites. Those locations are known as settlements, land that Israel has occupied since seizing it during the 1967 war.

The company contends that it is getting too costly for young families to build homes in those areas, so it is seeking help from Jews elsewhere in the world to buy a home that would be rented to settlers.

The investment ranges from $93,000 for a duplex to $165,000 for a single-family home. Monthly rent would range from $250 to $400. In exchange for the investment, Amana would build, rent and manage the property.

Palestinians argue that settlements such as these are an illegal seizure of land that belongs to them.

"The group is coming [for] land stolen from Palestinian Muslims and Christians," said Samer Khalaf, of the New Jersey chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

This presentation was the first in the United States for Amana, but a spokeswoman for the company said there was interest from other cities, including Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Miami and Cleveland.

This is the third such pitch that has been made at the Orthodox synagogue, said Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, who is careful to call the West Bank by the biblical names Samaria and Judea. The prospective buyers, Pruzansky said, had several reasons to think about buying: as an investment, as potential homes for themselves and "to make a public statement that there are Jews who believe this land belongs to us."

Others who have considered moving to Israel had concerns about living in a disputed territory.

"I'm afraid for my physical safety," said Teaneck resident Ari Jacobson, who attended the presentation to pick up sales literature for a relative. "Living in New Jersey, you ask, "Do I take the bus or the train to work?' There, it's: "Does the bus have bulletproof windows?' "

E-mail: sangha@northjersey.com and lynn@northjersey.com