Visiting Rawabi, The First Planned Palestinian City

I felt good about seeing a Palestinian flag.  Actually there were many of them lining the road leading into Rawabi, the first planned Palestinian city in the West Bank.  Monday was tiyul day at Machon Hartman and I chose to spend the day visiting the West Bank, (a.k.a. Judea and Samaria, The Palestinian Territories, the Territories and Palestine).  The "field trip" began with Danny Seidman, a left of center advocate for  a two-state solution who also serves as sort of an unofficial advisor to Dennis Ross, President Obama's chief Middle east advisor.  We met with Danny at Highway 1, the seam or dividing line between East and West Jerusalem and then travelled with him to Sheikh Jarakh, the east Jerusalem neighborhood that has become a flash point between Jewish settlers and Palestinians residents.  Danny claimed that the settlers who have moved into this neighborhood pose a serious threat to a peaceful resolution for Palestinians and Israelis.

Danny Seidman Speak to Us at the Seamline

Visiting Sheikh Jarrakh

Our trip continued as we travelled to Beit Aryeh, a Jewish settlement in Area C (i.e. an area under both Israeli administrative and military authority) of Judea and Samaria.  We received an in-depth briefing from Danny Stern, a retired IDF Colonel who was the architect of the Security Barrier that separates the West Bank from Israel proper.  Col. Stern explained to us how he walked the full length of what would become the course of the Fence encountering all of the Palestinian villages and towns which would fall along its path, and shared with us the many challenges he faced in deciding where the fence should fall; the security needs versus the disruption of the lives of Palestinians who live near its route.  He also spoke to us from "Sharon's Balcony," the spot where former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would take foreign leaders - like former President George W. Bush - to show them how vulnerable Israel's coastal plain is from the high ground of the West Bank.  From the Balcony we could see Ben Gurion Airport's runway just 20 short kilometers away.  Col. Stern's concern was obvious - there is a strategic threat to Israel's security vis-a-vis a future Palestinian state's control of the high ground that is so proximate to Israel's most populous cities.

Col. (Res.) Danny Stern Talks About the Challenges of Determining
the Route of the Security Barrier

We had met with two men named who share the same name, who both support a two-state solution, but who have two very different ways of arriving there.  

And then we travelled to the heart of will be that future Palestinian state.  Crossing Areas A and B we arrived at the entrance of Rawabi, described by it's developers as "Palestine's First Planned City."  Rawabi is located in Area A (i.e. Palestinian land under both Palestinian Authority administrative and military authority).  In order for us (and especially the Israelis who were a part of our group) to enter A we had to secure both the permission of the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. 

Inside the Rawabi Conference Room

We were escorted through a small Palestinian village to the Rawabi project site by a truck from Rawabi.  Our escort was meant as a gesture to the Palestinian villagers we passed that our Israeli bus posed no threat to them.

Grading and excavating at the Rawabi Site

Standing at Rawabi with Ramallah in the Background Behind My Right Shoulder (Photo Credit: Rabbi David Cohen)

When we entered the project site we were warmly welcomed by the Rawabi project managers.  They were articulate and impressive.  We were treated to a power-point presentation about the project and learned that Rawabi ("hills" in Arabic) was being developed as a mixed-use city for young, upwardly mobile, middle class Palestinians.  It will have apartments, office buildings, schools, parks, two mosques and a church, among the rest of the development's important municipal infrastructure (you can learn more about Rawabi at http://www.rawabi.ps/press_show.phpid=6&page=no).

While no Israeli citizens will ever live in this city because it is against Israeli law for any Israeli to live in Area A the connection between Israelis and this project are many.  The project itself relies on dozens of Israeli engineers and other contractors and building trades people who work on the site every day.  Over half of the construction materials that are used for the project are purchased from Israeli (excluding those produced from Israeli settlers) companies.  Our hosts, including Bashar Al-Masri, the Palestinian born American business man who is the mastermind and chief financial backer of the project, emphasized that they could have purchased building materials and relied on engineers and contractors from other countries, but that would have cut into their profit margin and also prevented the project from serving as an opportunity for Palestinian-Israeli economic cooperation.  It was quite clear that Mr. Al-Masri is a businessman who, like any businessperson, wants to make a profit, that he is a Palestinian nationalist, and someone who believes in living in peace with his Israeli neighbors.

For the first time many of the others in my group and I felt that we were seeing Palestinians working positively to build their state.  As unwavering Zionists we saw this building project and the spirit behind it and we recognized something familiar.  The question is, what steps will be taken to ensure that more Rawabis are developed so that that high ground of a future Palestinian state won't be used to reign down missiles on Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion, Haifa, Netanya and other Israeli towns and cities?