News

Branding cities and countries - Halfway between Jerusalem and Nablus, and aerial distance of 40 km from Tel Aviv city established Rawabi , the first planned city in the West Bank. settlement nearest to the city is the settlement of Ateret, which houses about 90 families, and the city was built entirely marks a new era in this space. town is a private project, has the support of Israeli organizations, international and Arab governments, and has the potential to alter the regional dialogue on the future, on both sides of the Green Line. 

The city planned to house 45 000 people in 23 distinct neighborhoods with names from nature such as "Contact" or "rock hard" and the meaning of the name Rawabi is the hills. The city will be eight schools, some of which are built with American assistance, a large park, a convention center, a theater and amphitheater, and planning is based on the construction of the Arab traditions around the open public spaces. The cost of building the city stands billion dollars, and two thirds of them came from Qatar.

Beyond that, the city built a business center, and the hope is that it will provide between 3,000 to 5,000 jobs in the next five years in technology. Build the city itself has created 3,000 jobs for Palestinians: The city designed and built by Palestinians, and only Qatari flags fluttering alongside Palestinian flags betray the sources, and the project does not purchase materials Jewish settlements in the West Bank, say the partners in the project, because it will contribute 85 million to the Israeli economy.

                

The next year and a half, the first stage of the project is complete, and will include six neighborhoods, a mosque, an amphitheater, and two-thirds of the business center. 3000 the first residents of the buildings are designed to accommodate the end of 2013, and even today you can see where residential buildings in local stone, and most streets are paved. The business center is well towards the end, including office buildings, hotels, theater and conference center around an open square.

Project to build the city is a kind of victory over the existing reality in the West Bank, as beyond the challenges of funding a project of this magnitude, it is required to deal with obtaining Israeli labor movement, or example, the access road "temporary" and the only locate or critical question (remains to be Answer) where water will reach the city. But the biggest question is - Is the Palestinian middle class believe in the project.

What's interesting is how the project and the Palestinian public is presented. This is a new form of representation, for us, the Israelis, is unknown: no way represented the Palestinian family, the Palestinian company or its environment. It's kind of a new representation, the Israeli public is not exposed to the media regularly. But even more significantly, is the innovation representation for the Palestinians themselves. If today the West could be impressed by the level and quality of life only through fences or Israeli towns, while they are satisfied with traditional villages or cities crowded and antiques, the project allows them to first imagine living standards of the West, and the high quality of life, in an accessible and their environment. Even the branding of the city presents a language that is new and significant change in our environment. Logo soft and friendly, with no national identity or nationalism, which deals with the values of quality and standard of living is very rare appearance Palestinian context, and opens the door to hope for more normal area.

                 

 

To view original article in Hebrew, Click Here.

To view original trnalsated article, Click Here.