West Bank boom eyes new hilltop city - if Israel agrees (Feature)

By Ofira Koopmans Mar 21, 2010, 3:08 GMT

Rawabi, West Bank - Bashar Masri had several options to choose from when it came to picking a name for the new Palestinian city he is building from scratch on a hilltop in the occupied West Bank.

Salam (peace) and Amal (hope) were considered, while Jihad (Holy War) and Kifah (Struggle) were also suggested by Palestinians in a questionnaire he commissioned.

But it was a friend who came up with the name he eventually went for - a neutral one with no political connotations: Rawabi.

The word means 'hills' in Arabic and, explains the Palestinian businessman, reflects the typical West Bank topography of the idyllic, olive-green, ochre-brown and limestone-pale slopes some 9 kilometres north of the central city of Ramallah.

'I didn't want to give it a political name, not even peace, not even hope. I didn't want to give anyone false expectations. This is about our right to live a normal life, despite the occupation,' Masri says.

And yet, the presence of that occupation can be felt heavily in Masri's personal story - and in the story of the city he is building, part of the growing economic development of the West Bank.

The father of two teenage daughters was born and raised in Nablus on the northern West Bank, but has lived in the United States since his student days. He needs a tourist visa from Israel to return to the occupied territory on his American passport.

'When we picked the area of Rawabi, we were very careful to pick it so that we would have minimal interaction with the Israeli occupation, or Israeli government,' says Masri.

However, some interaction is inevitable.

The whole project hinges on the construction of an access road from Ramallah, the West Bank's economic, cultural and political hub.

For that, too, he needs permission from the Israelis, since a 2.4-kilometre stretch of it passes through territory that is under Israeli security and administrative control.

The 1993 Oslo accords divided the West Bank into three categories: areas 'A' enjoy full autonomy, areas 'B' are administered by Palestinians but fall under Israeli security control, while areas 'C' are under full Israeli control.

The road that Masri wants to build partly runs through area C.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak has given his approval in principle, but Masri says he needs more guarantees before he can begin actual construction.

'I would be stupid to build a city that has no access road. And I'm not stupid.'

Masri wants the Palestinians to have full jurisdiction over the road. Otherwise, Israel would be able to set up roadblocks any time it decides there is a security threat.

Moreover, the 49-year-old points out, it would mean legitimizing the occupation.

'No way I would do that. No way. Even if it means no city.'

Once the green-light is given, residents would be able to move in within two and a half years, he says.

A Qatari government-owned real estate company is the project's main investor, helping build some 5,000 affordable apartments for young working-class couples in the central part of the town. The rest is to be built by other contractors and private investors.

Altogether, the city would have at least 40,000 residents, making it the fourth-biggest in the West Bank, even larger than Ramallah itself.

Unsurprisingly, Masri calls it the 'largest project in the history of Palestine' - at a total cost of 1.5 billion US dollars.

He says it will create jobs for roughly 10 per cent of the unemployed workforce in the West Bank, and hopes it will serve as an example for Arab tycoons and other foreigners wishing to invest in the area.

Recent years of calm have seen the West Bank economy leap by 8 per cent in 2009, according to the World Bank - a stark contrast to the economic paralysis of the violent early 2000s.

Israel has promised to facilitate its development and has begun removing roadblocks.

But even the economic boom cannot disguise the fact that the occupation lingers on.

Nearby Israeli settlements can be felt all round.

Setting out from the city's eastern edge, for instance, the Jewish settlement of Psagot is clearly visible.

And the traditional northbound road to Nablus, from the northern suburb of el-Bireh, is permanently blocked by Israeli military obstacles, set up to protect the nearby Jewish settlement of Beit El.

The current alternative route is clearly inadequate for a town of 40,000 - it crosses over a narrow land bridge where no two trucks can pass at the same time.

Once the winding road arrives at the construction site, the landscape is truly breathtaking. But it will be a long journey before the first residents will be able to enjoy it.