Peace Plaza?

Quite an international drama is playing out at Central Park South and Fifth Avenue. On one corner, an Israeli development company, Elad Properties, bought the Plaza Hotel from a Saudi prince, Alwaleed Bin Talal, and has unlocked billions of dollars in value by turning the hotel into luxury condominiums. Across Fifth Avenue, news broke over the weekend that Mortimer Zuckerman, a Canadian immigrant to New York who served a term as chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, was buying the GM Building, reportedly with backing from the governments of Kuwait and Qatar.

The Kuwaitis, the Qataris, and the Saudis do not have full diplomatic relations with Israel, and the presses they control are often both anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. But when it comes to New York real estate deals, business is business, and the Arabs seem to be able to overcome their aversion to Zionism. We've been skeptical of the idea that capitalism and free trade alone can conquer dictatorships in places such as communist China or Soviet Russia. But surely New York's status as a kind of free trade zone for Israelis, Arabs, and American Jewish Zionists in the real estate business is one of the more magical aspects of the city.

It's consistent with the history of a city that has been, for better on occasions and worse on others, more concerned with profits than with war. In any event, if the changes in the city's economy have been reflected in the GM building, from the old industrial giant known as General Motors to the Apple store, hedge funds, and law firms that now call the building home, then this latest chapter signals the way New York is a city that attracts global capital in a way that feeds the city's growth and dynamism. If the dynamism spreads to the Middle East, Mr. Zuckerman may one day find himself partners with not merely the emirs of Kuwait and Qatar but with the people of those countries.