A Qatar investment firm has broken ground for a new modern Palestinian Authority city, located next to Ramallah and north of Jerusalem and near several Jewish communities. The $500 million project is planned to house 40,000 people and look like a modern Western-style suburb, overlooking nearby Jewish towns. The government's 10-month building freeze preventing new construction for Jews in Judea and Samaria does not affect Arabs.
The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, an investment arm of the American government, will help PA Arab families purchase homes by providing funds through a mortgage aid program.
The city is to be called Rawabi, Arabic for “hills.” It will require a new access road and will be an instrumental development in placing “facts on the ground” that may threaten the existence of Jewish communities in the area. The PA has demanded that the area, as well as the rest of Judea and Samaria, be included in the country it wants to establish.
The city, funded in part by the Qatari Real Estate Development Investment Company, is designed to include a hotel, movie theater, conference center, shopping centers and offices as well as homes.
The Netanyahu government has encouraged economic growth in the Palestinian Authority, but government spokesmen did not reply to reporters’ questions concerning the building of an access road. The Jewish National Fund has contributed thousands of trees for green areas in and around the city.
Some Arab skeptics question whether PA Arabs can make the change from village life to a planned suburb, but Rawabi is expected to attract middle-class residents wanting to move away from crowded villages and cities.
No Cooperation With Jewish Settlers
Palestinian Authority businessman Bashar Masri helped launch the project and noted that it will generate thousands of jobs for Arabs. Masri also said that cooperation with Israel will not include Jews living in Judea and Samaria. “We will not deal with settlements,” he told The Media Line. "Hopefully, [the] settlements will one day be a suburb of Rawabi and will be inhabited by Palestinians and will be welcome to Jews who want to live in a Palestinian state.”