by Sheera Frenkel
Israeli activist buys up Arab property for Jewish residency, diplomats
and
administration bigs be damned
JJERUSALEM — (MCT) Aryeh King has a vision of the future of Jerusalem
that
would horrify the diplomats and U.S.-led negotiators who arrived this
week to
try to resuscitate negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
"I've heard people say Jerusalem is for everyone, but it is not," the
right-
wing activist and founder of the nonprofit Israel Land Fund told an
audience
earlier this week. "Jerusalem is for the Jews, and we need to stop
apologizing
about this."
As he ran through a PowerPoint presentation on the future of
Jerusalem, more
than two dozen local city and development experts applauded.
Officials in the Jerusalem municipality say King is among the most
influential
and effective activists moving Jewish settlers into largely Arab east
Jerusalem. As a close confidant of Florida billionaire Irving
Moskowitz, he has
the means and the backing to bring his vision of Jerusalem to life.
On a large projector in Jerusalem's Begin Center, a museum and
research center
created for Israel's sixth prime minister, Menachem Begin, King
displayed his
ideal map of interspersed Arab and Jewish communities between the
Palestinian
cities of Bethlehem and Ramallah.
King made no apologizes or concessions as he described the process by
which he
helps Jews settle in the disputed area. He made no apologies for the
Arab straw
men — people who pose as buyers and put their names on land deals — he
uses to
buy property from Palestinian families and then transfer ownership to
Jewish
settlers.
The Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank, has ruled
that Arabs
who sell their property to Jews are violating a law, a crime that's
punishable
by death.
By using non-Jews as his straw men, King said, he outmaneuvers the
Palestinians, who otherwise would be punished by their communities.
"There are loopholes in place and well-established means of moving
Jewish
families anywhere. We have used this method for years, and it works,
despite
the best efforts of the government to stop us," he said.
He gave an example from six months ago. Using an Arab family from the
northern
Israeli city of Acco, he bought a property in Jerusalem's Sheikh
Jarrah
neighborhood.
The Arab family negotiated with the property's Palestinian owners and
managed
to get what he said was a discounted price for moving in immediately.
When the
deal had been processed and signed and the money transferred, the Arab
family
transferred the deed to a Jewish family that moved in.
King makes his living the way other real estate agents do; on the
website of
the Israel Land Fund, he displays available properties, including
"ideological
sites" — those in the West Bank.
The website explains to potential investors that, "Investing in
property in
Israel is without a doubt one of the best investments a Jew can
make."
"With hundreds of properties all over Israel being offered for sale,
the Israel
Land Fund offers every Jew, regardless of location, the opportunity to
obtain a
portion of the land.
"House by house, lot by lot, the Israel Land Fund is ensuring the land
of
Israel stays in the hands of the Jewish people forever. You, too, can
take part
in this great endeavour," the website says.
King said that despite the positions of the U.S. government and most
of Europe,
he was receiving "more interest than ever" from "sympathetic parties"
abroad.
His organization has been involved in some of the most controversial
settler
disputes in recent years, including the Shepherd's Hotel in East
Jerusalem,
which the U.S. has protested.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a partial freeze
on
settlements in the West Bank 10 months ago, but he's refused to
announce a
similar freeze on East Jerusalem settlements, arguing that the city
has a
"special status" and would remain a "united Jewish capital."
Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Yitzchak Pindrus said he was well aware of
King's
activities.
"We know about these kind of activities happening, but if someone
private goes
and buys a home, what does anyone in the world really expect the
municipality
to do? I know politically it sounds great," he said. "There are quite
a few of
these cases, but they are private interactions between buyers and
banks and
sellers. We can't intervene, and no government in the world would
expect us to
do otherwise."
King's activities illustrate the difficulty of attempting to halt
Jewish
building in East Jerusalem, Pindrus said.
"It is easy to point to his activities and use them as an excuse to
embarrass
the Israeli government, but there is nothing illegal about his
activities.
There is no authority to stop him," Pindrus said.
Sitting at a cafe minutes from one of the East Jerusalem homes he's
attempting
to purchase in largely Arab Sheikh Jarrah, King seemed confident that
the
municipality won't stop him.
"They have not made things easy, but there are ways around them," he
said,
swinging his feet in the sandals that betray his upbringing in a rural
town in
southern Israel's Negev desert.
Jerusalem is the last place in the world he thought he'd live, let
alone learn
to love, he said.
"I always loved warm places, the beach. I never thought that I would
love
Jerusalem so much that I would fight to protect her, but this has
become my
life," he said.
In a single hour, he took nine phone calls related to various projects
he's
advancing with pro-settler groups, including Ateret Cohanim and Elad.
Though 2009 was one of his biggest years, he has even bigger hopes for
2010,
although he wouldn't provide a number to support his claim.
"God willing, it will be even bigger. We'd like to see Jewish presence
in
Jerusalem expand to this," he said, pointing to his map dotted with
potential
settlements.
Sheera Frenkel
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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