I own a piece of land with planning consent for two cottages connected to each other. I don’t have the money to build either unit. Am I halachically allowed to do a deal with an Arab builder whereby he will take one unit in exchange for building the other unit for me, or would I be transgressing selling land in Eretz Yisroel to a Non Jew. I don’t think the Arab is likely to live in the other unit. I think he will probably sell it on for profit after it is built, and most likely a Jew will buy it. Shimshon
Answer:
Although it is likely that a Jew will buy it, it remains forbidden to grant a non-Jew property rights over land in the Land of Israel.
There are some circumstances in which poskim are lenient in this matter, based on the opinion of the Rashba (see Nishmas Kol Chai 1:54, and a number of other authorities), who rules that the prohibition applies only to idolaters, and not to Muslims.
However, the ruling of the Rashba is disputed by the Rambam and others (the Beis Yosef and the Shach write that there is no difference between one non-Jew and another), and many poskim do not rely on the ruling for ordinary circumstances (such as the Netziv 2:56, the Chazon Ish, and others with regard to the problem of selling land to Arabs during Shemittah).
In this case, it is worthy of note that the deal with the Arab is being done for the sake of settling the land — for the purpose of building a cottage to live in. Although the Ran (Gittin 20) Yet, because the same deal can be struck with a Jewish contractor (though perhaps for a slightly higher price), this will not be sufficient cause for leniency.
If the circumstance would be that the deal cannot be struck with a Jewish contractor, there might be some room for leniency — but because the question is presumably only a matter of adding some payment, one cannot rely on this to be lenient.
Best wishes.
