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Source: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ac890172-2024-11e3-9a9a-00144feab7de.html
How Fares the New Palestinian City?
(Financial Times-UK) John Reed - Bashar Masri is the initiator of Rawabi, a vast planned Palestinian city in the West Bank, a $1 billion project backed by Qatar which will house 25,000 people. Masri has taken considerable grief from his fellow Palestinians for Rawabi. Some accuse him of "normalization" because of his occasional dealings with Israeli businessmen and institutions. He was also castigated for accepting trees from the Jewish National Fund, a Zionist group. Masri responds: "You cannot do business without Israel....The cement comes through Israel; the electricity is all Israeli." Because of the financial crisis in the PA, the West Bank's largest employer, Rawabi has had to cut prices for its flats. The lower income, added to the project's other delays, means a business plan designed to be solidly profitable will barely break even. "If trends continue this way, it will be a losing project," says Masri.