The citizens of the Swiss village of Soonen have banded together to block the sale of a chalet to the Saudi Arabian Minister of Civil Aviation, Addulla Mahdi. Werner Roaflouh, a resident of the hamlet near Gstoad, organized a local committee to take legal action against the sale. They turned down an offer by Mahdi to donate 400,000 Swiss francs to the village for an agricultural project if he is allowed to buy the property which is owned by a French businessman. The ban was enforced by invoking a Swiss law that contains certain restrictions on the sale of property to foreigners.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.