New Jersey synagogue to auction off occupied Palestinian land
March 3 (UPI) -- Palestinian groups are calling for supporters to protest a purported auction of homes on occupied Palestinian land at the Keter Torah Synagogue in New Jersey.
A review of homes listed in the sale at My Home In Israel Real Estate shows cottages in Efrat, a settlement in the West Bank. The cottages are listed for $1.3 million. The sale is expected to take place on March 10, though it does not appear on the Keter Torah Synagogue calendar.
"If we allow this sale to go through, we are enabling a local synagogue to violate both domestic anti-discrimination laws and international law," local activist Rich Siegel told Democracy Now. "Now, there's other reasons we shouldn't allow it, OK? There's a genocide going on right now."
Other homes are seemingly just outside of the 1949 Armistice Line that delineates the border between Israel and the Palestinian territory. Israeli settlements inside those borders are considered illegal by the United States and the international community.
"A synagogue in Teaneck will be hosting a real estate sale auctioning off Occupied Palestinian land. This event takes place every other year -- and it has for YEARS," Teaneck for Palestine said in a statement on Instagram.
The group criticized the town's council for having passed a resolution claiming that the town stands with Israel.
"The truth is this is NOT where the people of Teaneck stand!! We are not just anti-Zionist, but PRO-PALESTINE," the group said. "Our actions and demands are always led by our love and solidarity for the people of Palestine! Join us in a protest against the illegal sale of stolen Palestinian land!"
Meanwhile, a local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, a Jewish group that seeks an end to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, has told its followers on Instagram to protest Keller Williams in Englewood.
"Zionists at Keller-Williams think they're entitled to steal land from Palestinians and sell it to white Americans," the group said in its post on Saturday. "Let's show up on Tuesday and let them know how we feel about them breaking domestic and international laws while the terrorist regime they shamelessly support commits daily war crimes in its genocide of an indigenous population."
Keller Williams, which has an Israeli division, is selling a home in East Jerusalem, which is considered in the West Bank under international law, for $15 million. The property is described as "luxurious" and about 100 meters from the Western Wall.
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