New enterprise urges investors to buy settlers' property in West Bank

Israeli and Jewish investors have begun purchasing land from West Bank settlements' residents who are willing to leave their homes, Ynet learned Sunday.

The move, initiated by right-wing elements within the settlement movement, is said to counter the government's evacuation-compensation plan, by offering those willing to leave a higher price for their land and no exhausting bureaucratic procedure.

"We know who the weaker links in the settlement movement are and we'll make sure to make them attractive offers," Attorney Yossi Fox, a Likud activist and one of the leading forces in the fight against the evacuation-compensation bill, told Ynet.

"The goal is to get to those who want to leave before the Disenagement Authority (assisting settlers from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria) does, and offer them a quicker way out.

"We don’t want to put the cart before the horses, and we hope the motion falls through on its own, but experience has taught us that we have to be prepared for a scenario where it will pass (the Knesset readings)."

The initiative, he added, has been in place for about six months, as attempts have been made to find investors willing to buy property in the West Bank.

"We have several dozen investors from Israel and aboard, at this time. The same people are also involved in the redemption of lands in east Jerusalem, which amounts to millions of dollars. Buying up land in the West Bank is easier and cheaper for them," said Fox.

Y., an insurance director from central Israel, is one of the investors involved in the project. "I'm one of many who joined this initiative because of Zionism. I didn’t serve in an elite IDF unit to see this country torn apart," he told Ynet.

"I have no doubt I'll see dividends from my investment. There are plenty of religious guys out there that are willing to live in Judea and Samaria.

"I agreed to give Gaza back because I don't think it was ours, but Judea and Samaria? What's next – Tel Aviv?"