Re: Har Homa Neighborhood in East Jerusalem

Dear President Clinton,

We understand that you will be meeting with the Israel Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, and we wish to bring some facts before you that require your urgent attention.

The Government of Israel expropriated 1,850 dunams of land at Har Homa in East Jerusalem. The largest piece of the confiscated land belonged to our company - Makor - and a part belonged to Palestinian citizens.

The media reports concerning the Har Homa expropriations all state that these expropriations will seriously endanger the continuance of the ongoing peace process in the Middle East.

However, Makor has a completely viable alternative for developing the site, an alternative that will not require any land expropriations whatsoever, will save the Israeli economy US $1 billion, and will not require any further deductions to be made from loan guarantees extended by the USA to the State of Israel.

Architectural design of Makor's own proposed Har Homa project was done by Mr. Ram Karmi, who also was commissioned by the State of Israel to do the architectural design of Israel's recently completed Supreme Court building.

Makor's development plan for the Har Homa site calls for 8,267 apartments to be built on a total of 2,874 dunams of land. In addition to apartment units, Makor plans to construct a shopping center, three hotels, a country club, a golf course, and all the facilities and amenities necessary to create a pleasant residential environment for purchasers of the apartments.

In addition to the above, Makor also proposes to develop a Peace Park at Har Homa as a memorial to the three farsighted leaders of the Camp David Peace Accords, the late President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel, and former President Jimmy Carter of the United States. The Peace Park will also be a testament to the goals of current peace negotiators, U.S. President Bill Clinton, the late Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Jordanian King Hussein, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and, hopefully, also to current Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and to Syrian President Hafez Assad.

The famous handshakes of these heroic peacemakers will be captured in bronze sculptures. Both the landscaping and sculpture at the Peace Park will express the spirit of the courageous leaders whose efforts have paved the road for peace. Makor also plans to build a Peace Center, which will be dedicated to the furtherance of tolerance among neighbors, a place where peoples of all religions and nationalities can work together towards a peaceful relationship with each other.

The Har Homa project is especially close to my heart for personal reasons. I was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1940, and immigrated to Palestine in 1946. With the establishment of the State of Israel, I became an Israeli citizen. I consider myself as one of many beneficiaries of the peace process initiated in 1978. It is my desire to see this process move forward in the current negotiations for peace. My personal wish is that the Peace Park and the Peace Center will be places where people from different religions and nationalities will meet and express goodwill and friendship among the nations.

Makor's development plans have already been presented to the Palestinian property owners at Har Homa. These individuals have given their full consent to Makor's development plans at the site for the express purpose that Makor's plan will not require any land expropriations whatsoever, thus allowing each individual landowner to build on his own property. People will be able to live in peace with each other, regardless of who eventually gains permanent control of the Har Homa area at the conclusion of the peace negotiations. Makor believes that true peace is peaceful relations among citizens, and not merely among national leaders.

There are some interested people who are pressuring Mr. Netanyahu to maintain the expropriation in order to receive the land from the State. These people are not concerned with the consequences of this act and they do not want to hear that there exists another , better alternative, as mentioned above.

Because I have had no opportunity to approach Mr. Netanyahu, I respectfully request your kind intervention in helping Mr. Netanyahu to arrive at the right decision before a catastrophe occurs.

Respectfully,

David Myr,
General Manager

Please read about our alternative and help us to cancel the expropriation by sending e-mail to President Clinton.