Rawabi
Rawabi ( Arabic روابي, DMG Rawābī 'the hills') is an approximately 630 hectare development area in Zone A of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank .
planning
The Palestinian entrepreneur Bashar Masri is building a planned city for 25,000, later up to 40,000, residents 9 kilometers north of Ramallah and south of Nablus near the municipality of Atara . Masri's company Massar-Holding from Ramallah has entered into a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the Palestinian Authority . She wants to complete the project with financial help from deposits and loans from Diar Real Estate Investment Company, a subsidiary of the Qatar State Fund , which is fed from oil and natural gas revenues . The joint subsidiary Bayti (German: Mein Haus ) was founded for the project . The total investment will cost approximately US $ 800 million. The project was decided at the Palestine Investment Conference 2008.
The entire planning area is in Zone A, so planning sovereignty lies with the autonomous authority. The planned access road for future residents, however, is partially in the Israeli-controlled zone C. A permit from the Israeli authorities has not yet been received. A provisional road for construction traffic was approved in January 2012. Without the construction of this road, development was in jeopardy. After talks with the US special envoy for the Middle East George J. Mitchell in May 2010, the Israeli government signaled its readiness to provide the land required for the construction of the main access road.
Construction work
The first construction work began on January 1, 2010. First, tree saplings were planted on already terraced mountain slopes. Construction roads and canals for the supply of electricity, gas, water and for the disposal of waste water were also started.
Former American presidential candidate John Kerry visited the construction site in February 2010, Middle East Quartet special envoy Tony Blair in June 2010, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in January 2012.
In March 2010, the US Department of Commerce and Development ( USTDA ) put out two contracts for further development in Rawabi. The first contract is to finance technical assistance for the development of information and communication technology (ICT) in the new city and the second is to provide funds for a feasibility study for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant in Rawabi and the surrounding communities .
One of Masri's guidelines, which all companies involved must adhere to, is that “not a single screw produced in Jewish settlements ” is used for the construction . The participation of Israeli companies, however, is desirable and even necessary. In response to this, the boycott law was passed in the Knesset in July 2011 . This law, which prohibits the boycott of Israel or even the settlements, does not affect Masri, but it can become a problem for Israeli companies.
In March 2013, the shell of the first of 700 apartments was completed and should be ready for occupancy by the end of 2013. Thereafter, 100 more residential units are to be completed and occupied every month.
In the spring of 2015, the Israeli authorities agreed to connect Rawabi to the drinking water network operated by Israel. Since April 2015, enough water has been flowing for the first 1200 inhabitants of Rawabis, who will have moved in by 2016.
City administration
On June 30, 2013, the city parliament held its first session in Rawabi, chaired by Mayor Majed Abd Al Fatah, who was appointed by the Palestinian government.
literature
- Angela Schader, Gilles Steinmann: Rawabi: Is a Palestinian Dream Failing? A photo tableau by Andrea and Magda , in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 25, 2019.
Web links
- Homepage rawabi.ps (English & Arabic)
- Jenny Fadranski: Urban planning despite all opposition , zu-daily.de ( Zeppelin University ), July 19, 2013
- Florain Elsemüller: The Model City of the Palestinians , DKultur, March 14, 2016
Individual evidence
- ↑ Anticipation of the Palestinian State. Der Standard, May 21, 2010
- ↑ Rawabi is building dreams brick by brick. Gulf News , Jan. 16, 2010
- ^ "Qatari Diar CEO signs development partnership at Palestine Investment Conference in Bethlehem" ( Memento of June 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), AMEinfo, May 22, 2008.
- ↑ Better living for modern Palestinians. NZZ , October 24, 2010
- ^ West Bank: Build it and they will come. Jerusalem Post, November 4, 2011
- ^ A new Palestinian city rises in the West Bank. CTV , February 5, 2012
- ^ Joseph Krauss: Signs of progress lacking as US envoy ends Mideast visit ( Memento from May 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), AFP, May 19, 2010.
- ↑ US Senator John Kerry Visits Rawabi, the First Palestinian Planned City. Palestine News Network, March 1, 2010
- ^ UN Leader Urges Israelis and Palestinians to Resume Talks. New York Times, February 1, 2012
- ^ Building the Palestinian dream on a shaky ground , Ha-Aretz on July 30, 2011
- ↑ Rawabi, The Palestinian Future. Der Standard , December 3, 2011
- ↑ Hans-Christian Rößler: Crisis Summit . In: FAZ , March 22, 2013, p. 12.
- ↑ Hans-Christian Rößler: Sisyphus work on the dream of Palestine . In: FAZ, December 28, 2015, p. 3.
- ^ "New municipal council holds first meeting at Rawabi" , rawabi.ps, June 30, 2013.