Recruiting Americans for the West Bank.

last updated 8 January 2015

Israel

Daphna Berman

Israelis are enlisting American Jews to fund settlements in the occupied territories, said Daphna Berman in Tel Aviv’s Ha’aretz. Last week, for the first time, a settlement society hosted housing fairs in U.S. cities, offering lots and homes to U.S. buyers. The Americans aren’t expected to move to the West Bank. Instead, an American owner will collect rent from an Israeli settler family, most likely a family evicted from Gaza last summer and relocating to the West Bank. The housing company, Amana, tells potential buyers that they will be reimbursed “if settlements are dismantled as part of a final-status agreement with the Palestinians”—although the Israeli government has yet to weigh in on the issue. Leftists and peace activists in Israel are protesting against the campaign. But some of them have pointed out that turning to rich Americans means the settlement movement is getting desperate. Fewer and fewer Israelis support new home-building in the West Bank. “The settlers feel that they are in a weak position,” said Adam Keller of Peace Now. “They feel that they are on borrowed time.”