26 February 2007
Around 250 American Jews have attended a controversial event in New Jersey to get information on buying homes in settlements in the Israeli occupied West Bank, according to a report by the Associated Press (AP). The sales pitch, organized by the Israel-based Amana Settlement Movement, took place at an Orthodox synagogue in the town of Teaneck. The event drew rebukes from Israeli and Palestinian organizations, who said such efforts were undermining international peace efforts. The organizations believe the gathering represents the first time West Bank homes were offered for sale in the United States. They also questioned if the sale of what they consider illegally occupied lands violated anti-discrimination laws, but a New Jersey official told AP that US state and federal authorities had no jurisdiction on overseas property.
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 could not afford to build. Nearly 270,000 Jewish settlers, up 6 per cent 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," Ori Nir, a spokesman for Americans for Peace Now, said. Aaron Levitt, a member of Jews Against the Occupation, said the initiative was deliberately inflaming the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.