A new real estate deal may emerge to be the most lucrative ever signed. A French group obtained 5.5 dunams (about 1.3 acres) of land for burial on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives from businessmen Eli Yisraeli and Yossi Reich for $24 million.
The group intends to establish a VIP burial section for wealthy Jews, with expected profits of $100 million. The entrepreneurs said that they plan to hire the services of one of 17 existing Hevra Kadishas (Jewish burial authorities) in order to operate the cemetery.
The Mount of Olives is considered the most holy place in the world for Jewish burial and is the oldest and holiest burial spot in Jewish tradition. According to Jewish belief, the Mount of Olives will be the site on which the resurrection of the dead will commence when the Messiah comes.
According to a representative of the group, Attorney Assaf Levy, some 10,000 burial plots are planned for the cemetery that will be organized according to communities, family plots, plots for those who observe Shabbat, etc.
In recent years, the Mount of Olives has suffered a decline in its reputation as Israel's
"hall of fame." Most recently, however, the cemetery's status received a major boost when the Israeli government declared it a national landmark and pumped hundreds of millions of shekels into refurbishing and developing the site.
Currently, the price of a single burial plot starts at $8,500 and can reach $50,000 for a plot in close proximity to the grave of holy rabbis buried there.
_a.jpg "Photo: Ron Peled")
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