Dear Madam,

In preparing for your forthcoming meeting with Israel's Foreign Minister, Mr. David Levy, I hope you will give some attention to this letter. I address you, as an Israeli representing a company which has been directly involved in the Har Homa/Jebl Abu Ghneim issue long before it became an international issue.

As is well known, the present crisis in the peace process started with the Israeli government's unilateral decision to start building activity at Har Homa/Jebl Abu Ghneim in East Jerusalem. Our company, Makor, is directly concerned with this issue (beyond our general concern as citizens of Israel) since much of the land, 1850 dunams, was expropriated from us and the remainder from Palestinian landowners.

We have been familiar with the site for many years and would respectfully like to offer a possible compromise solution based on the following assessments of the two leaders' basic interests and positions:

1. Mr. Netanyahu, who won the elections by accusing his predecessor, Mr. Peres, of "intending to divide Jerusalem", and who in recent months made "building Har Homa" into a prestige project, cannot afford to declare that he is stopping construction on the site;
2. Mr. Arafat, whose people are feeling increasingly frustrated by unilateral Israeli actions, cannot afford to accept the Israeli confiscation of Palestinian land on Jebl Abu Ghneim and its use for constructing a neighborhood for Jewish Israelis. Expropriations of land in East Jerusalem were declared invalid in a long series of U.N. Security Council resolutions dating from the late 1960's, which the U.S. was party too. Any lenience on this point would expose Arafat to accusations by the Palestinian opposition of having "sold out" Jerusalem and Palestine.

In our view, these apparently irreconcilable positions could still be bridged by a compromise along the following lines:

1. All expropriations of land at Har Homa/Jebl Abu Ghneim will be abolished and the land restored to the respectful owners, Jewish and Arab;
2. These Jewish and Arab owners will be free to build on their respective plots without interference from the Israeli or Palestinian authorities.
3. Anyone purchasing housing constructed on the site will have to sign a document acknowledging their awareness that the final political status of the site is to be defined in the framework of the general "final status" talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

A compromise of this kind was discussed, some months ago, between Rabbi Menachem Froman of the settlement Tekoa and Fisal Husseini, Palestinian minister in charge of Jerusalem issues (Kol HaYir newspaper 3/14/97).

As a matter of fact, we know that at some stage Mr. Netanyahu was inclined to accept a solution of this kind, but gave in under strong pressures from Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert.

Olmert's position, in our view, is motivated mainly by considerations of his own political career and to secure his re-election in the November 1998 municipal elections. The composition of the Jerusalem electorate makes support by the religious community indispensable for any mayoral candidate. (In the present Jerusalem city council, the Religious hold the biggest bloc - 13 councilors, compared to 8 of the secular right and 10 of the secular left).

In our view, Ehud Olmert is pushing construction at Har Homa/Jebl Abu Ghneim, on expropriated land, in order to have the new neighborhood reserved for religious families, who will receive their extremely cheap, government-subsidized housing, in return for which he could expect to get this community's political support.

This aspect - that the Har Homa/Jebl Abu Ghneim land expropriation was motivated by what amounts to an electoral bribe and political corruption - has somehow never gotten much attention from the Israeli media and even less from the international ones.

This constitutes still a further reason why the U.S. - a country which supports individual rights, free trade and which opposes corrupt regimes in various parts of the globe - cannot support the land expropriations which:

1. Result from corrupt considerations;
2. Contradict U.N. Security Council resolutions;
3. Severely damage the peace process;
4. Hurt U.S. interests in the region;

Furthermore, it should be pointed out that the construction at Har Homa/Jebl Abu Ghneim involves a great waste of public funds which the U.S. may feel obliged, in the future, to deduct from the loan guarantees given to Israel.

In light of all of the above, we seriously suggest that you consider the possibility of giving U.S. support to a compromise along the lines that have been discussed between Rabbi Menachem Froman and Fisal Husseini and try to get the two sides to accept it.

Respectfully,

David Myr,
General Manager

Please read about our alternative and help us to cancel the expropriation by sending e-mail to Secretary of State Ms.Albright.