Palestinian- American fights to buy Jerusalem housing project.

The West Bank native offers to purchase a debt-
burdened company that has been building the
units, but right-wing Jewish groups have vowed
to kill the deal.
Reporting from Ramallah, West Bank —
A wealthy Palestinian-American businessman is
fighting to take over a troubled real estate firm
that builds Jewish-only housing units in Arab-
dominated East Jerusalem, but right-wing Jewish
groups have vowed to kill the deal.
Bashar Masri, a West Bank native who holds
American citizenship, has offered to buy debt-
burdened Digal Investment and Holdings Ltd.,
which has been building the 400-unit Nof Zion
housing project overlooking the Old City.
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Bondholders of the struggling company met late
Sunday night to discuss Masri's bid as well as a
competing one, but no decision was announced.
Attorneys for the bondholders did not return
phone calls.
If successful, Masri said, he plans to sell the
remaining 300-plus units to Palestinian buyers.
To date, Digal has completed the first phase of the
project, and sold the units only to Jewish buyers,
including many religious families.
The takeover would mark a rare instance of a
Palestinian entrepreneur winning control of a
housing project that had been targeted at Jewish
buyers in East Jerusalem. In most cases, Jewish
developers have been buying property in Arab
neighborhoods to establish a Jewish presence,
despite criticism from Palestinian and international
groups who say such provocative construction
hinders Mideast peace talks.
In one example, bulldozers in East Jerusalem on
Sunday tore down the vacant old Shepherd
Hotel, clearing the way for construction of 20
Jewish housing units. Speaking in Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates, U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned the
demolition as a "disturbing development" that
undermines efforts to establish a separate
Palestinian state and "contradicts the logic of a
reasonable and necessary agreement between
the parties on the status of Jerusalem."
Masri said his purchase offer was accepted by the
committee of bondholders a month ago.
But when word of the pending deal was made
public, conservative Israeli groups and some Nof
Zion residents rallied to block it. They accused
Masri of attempting to conceal his identity by
using Israeli go-betweens and a Cyprus-based
company.
One resident called the deal an "act of betrayal by
facilitating a secretive transaction that would lead
to the sale of Nof Zion property to Arab interests,"
according to one angry letter published in an
Israeli newspaper.
The campaign has included picketing bondholder
meetings, text-message threats to parties
involved in the deal, advertisements and posters.
Some opponents have labeled Masri a "terrorist"
because of his past involvement with Palestinian
politics.
Masri, who said he has never hidden the fact that
he is Palestinian, said the deal appears to be in
limbo. When he attempted to pay his deposit, he
said, the money was rejected.
"The long delay does not look good," said Masri,
who was born and raised in the northern West
Bank city of Nablus and currently resides in
Washington, D.C. "This means the bondholders
are waiting for an Israeli to come up with a better
bid."
Bondholders voted last week to open negotiations
with another buyer — led by an Israeli
supermarket-chain magnate — though some on
the committee remain interested in selling to
Masri, according to a report in Haaretz
newspaper.
Masri called the opposition campaign against him
"racist" and said that it would reflect poorly on
Israel's business image.
"I am an American businessman trying to make a
purely business deal," said Masri, who has
several large investments in Palestinian
companies in the West Bank.
In the Rawabi project, a master-planned
community outside Ramallah, Masri has drawn
criticism from Israelis for insisting upon hiring
only Palestinian contractors whenever possible.
When Digal ran into financial trouble with its
lenders, including Bank Leumi, its bondholders
began looking for a buyer for the company
assets, which include plans for a hotel next to the
homes.
Masri said his $36-million bid was the highest,
with more than half of the money going to cover
debt to Bank Leumi and the rest to the
bondholders.
He said his Cyprus-based Techsal Co. first
expressed interest in buying Digal two years ago.
"This was an authorized housing project being
built on land which was owned by Palestinians
and falls in an East Jerusalem neighborhood," he
said. "Since there is a serious shortage of housing
for Palestinians in East Jerusalem because it is
difficult for Palestinians to get building permits, I
saw in buying this project an opportunity to get
authorized housing for the Palestinians."
Abukhater is a special correspondent.


Source: http//www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-jerusalem-housing-20110110,0,6423542.story