RAMALLAH, March 3, 2011 (WAFA) – A bid by Palestinian-American businessman Bashar Masri to buy a housing project an Israeli company was building in
Masri made a bid several months ago to buy Digal, an Israeli company building the 400-unit housing project, known as Nof Zion, in Jabal al-Mukaber neighborhood of
However, when news surfaced that Masri was the buyer, right wing Israelis came together to foil his attempt with a goal to prevent Palestinians from getting the housing project and to keep it Jewish only.
Digal was building the project for the benefit of only Jews and had already sold 90 apartments before falling into financial difficulty.
Masri’s Cyprus-based company made a bid of $36 million to buy Nof Zion with a goal to sell it to Palestinians who face a severe shortage of homes in East Jerusalem due to discriminatory policies of the Israeli government and the all-Jewish
The municipality makes it very difficult and almost impossible for Palestinians to get a building permit in
The right-wing Israelis succeeded in getting two Jewish entrepreneurs, one Israeli and the second an Australian, to make a bid, allowing the company bondholders to decide to sell the company to the Jewish bidders, thus ruling out Masri’s takeover attempt.
However, apparently the Jewish bid was not enough to satisfy Bank Leumi, which said this week that unless the Jewish buyers come up with enough money to cover its loan, the bank may decide to sell to Masri after all.
This declaration by the Bank Leumi prompted the right-wing Israelis to renew their attempt to foil Masri’s chances for getting the
Masri told WAFA that an Australian Jew and Israeli businessman Rami Levi, owner of a supermarket chain, had made a counter bid to buy the project and they succeeded in getting the company bondholders to accept their bid.
“Despite several rejections of my bid, I still gave a better offer to Bank Leumi to pay the company’s loan and buy the complex,” said Masri.
However, right-wing Israelis threatened to withdraw their accounts in Bank Leumi if the complex was sold to Masri.
Digal said that if it doesn’t receive sufficient funds from Jewish bidders, it will be forced to accept Masri’s offer, which is the highest amount offered to pay its debt to the bank.
Masri said that extremist Jews urged American businessmen to buy the company only to foil his bid.
He said that if the project was sold to the Jewish businessmen, it will be based on discriminatory reasons and not due to business transaction.
In addition to the 400 apartments, the complex has a shopping center, nurseries, synagogue and a hotel, which is being built by another Israeli company Masri is also planning to buy. Digal wanted to sell the apartments to religious Jews since the area overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem.
R.S./M.A.
