by Sheera Frenkel
Israeli activist buys up Arab property for Jewish residency, diplomats and administration bigs be damned
"I've heard people say
As he ran through a PowerPoint presentation on the future of
Officials in the
On a large projector in
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
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
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
The website explains to potential investors that, "Investing in property in
"With hundreds of properties all over
"House by house, lot by lot, the Israel Land Fund is ensuring the
King said that despite the positions of the
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
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
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
"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
"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
"I always loved warm places, the beach. I never thought that I would love
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
Sheera Frenkel
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