Group's West Bank sales pitch draws protests at synagogue

TEANECK, N.J. - As protesters chanted and waved signs outside, about 250 American Jews were able to get information on buying homes in the West Bank during an event yesterday 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.

Some also questioned whether the sale of what they consider illegally occupied lands violates antidiscrimination 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."

Aliza Herbst, an Amana representative, 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 to buy was Jack Forgash, 60, of Teaneck, who said he would see the purchase not just 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.

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 last year, live in the West Bank among 2.4 million Palestinians.

Critics say increasing settlement damages efforts to create a Palestinian state, a goal backed by the U.S. government.

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," said Levitt, 37, of Queens, N.Y., 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.