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4: Ronald Lauder has big dreams
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and money and a track record
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o make them come true.

ailing It
Happen

Ronald Lauder
is taking the
mantle of Jewish
leadership seriously.

TOM TUGEND
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Ronald Lauder greets children at the opening of the Lauder. Gear Aryeh. School in Prague.

9/17
1999

Los Angeles
ewish leader Ronald Lauder has a dream.
At some point in the future, Israel's Negev desert,
now "basically Arizona without people," will be a
lush garden spot, made fruitful by a string of desali-
nation plants purifying seawater.
Trains will run from Tel Aviv to Beersheba to Eilat, carry-
ing high-tech wizards to Israel's Silicon Valley and tourists to
"a city like Las Vegas." As for the finances, says Lauder, he
will go to the World Bank and ask for $3 billion for a water
network encompassing Israel, the Palestinian self-rule areas
and Jordan. It's important, he says, to include the latter two
as part of the peace process and to make sure the water distri-
bution system isn't poisoned or blown up by terrorists.
For starters, Lauder says, "I need $45 million to $100 mil-
lion to get the desalination project off the ground, and I'm
looking for a hundred people who will each put in $100,000
a year." About a dozen men, most of considerable means and
business acumen, met recently for wine and cheese at a Bel
Air estate, complete with its own vineyards, to listen, fascinat-
ed, as Lauder outlined his grandiose plans. No one laughed or
snickered.
For Lauder, heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetic fortune and
chairman of RSL Communications, is more than your run-
MAKING IT HAPPEN on page 24