GIVING CHUTZPAH NEW MEANING

By Jo-Ann Mort - February 23, 2010

OK, so now I have read it all...the Jewish settlers in the West Bank are complaining about the new Palestinian city of Rawabi that has been conceived of for Palestinian families and young professionals just outside of Ramallah because they say that this new city will bring unwanted pollution, problems for the environment, and traffic jams--yes, traffic jams that will upset the settlers' way of life. What chutzpah!

The truth is that the shell game that was created post-1967 with the rise of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank would be laughable, would be the stuff that slapstick comedies are made of, were it not so tragic--and so real, impacting the lives of millions of Palestinians and the future of the Zionist project.

And the settlers are so sure of their ownership of this nuttiness that they can put out press releases attacking this new planned city for interfering with their quality of life!

When I was in the West Bank last summer, I met with the architect for Rawabi-who happens to be a Jewish guy from Larchmont. It's a fabulous idea--a planned community that will create quality of life for a very -squeezed Palestinian young professional class--and the only issues it faces have to do with Israeli control of major roads due to the polyglot of 'areas A,B,and C, regarding what plot of land is ruled by Palestinians, what by Israels and what is controlled 'jointly.' but there is no real problem of upsetting the 'quality of life' for Jewish settlers.

The settlers have upset the quality of life for too long-decades too long--of Jews inside Israel and of Palestinians on the West Bank. They have run roughshod over standards, over laws and over the option and the possibility of ensuring Israel's security by creating two states for two peoples. Enough is enough. Build Rawabi; but more important-let's hope that President Obama is able to move forward with a peace process that creates two states and puts an end to the chutzpadic demands of the settlers before it is too late for a two-state solution....

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/23/giving_chutzpah_new_meaning/

Settlers: New Palestinian city will harm security, the environment

Last update - 02:55 24/02/2010

By Chaim Levinson

Right-wing activists have begun organizing a campaign against the new Palestinian city of Rawabi, which recently began taking shape in the West Bank. The activists claim the new city will cause traffic jams, pollution, security issues and will only benefit Palestinian elites.

Rawabi's construction began some two months ago north of Bir Zeit, about 10 kilometers from Ramallah. The new city is supposed to have 5,000 housing units for some 25,000 people. Most of the designated city falls in Area A, under civil and military Palestinian Authority control.

The new apartments are expected to sell for between $38,000 to $75,000 per unit, and the city is also planned to have industrial and commercial zones, with municipal infrastructure using "green" technologies.

The overall cost of the project, being built by the Qatari-based firm Bayti, is estimated at $200 million, raised from private donations and aid from Gulf states.

Near Rawabi is the settlement of Ateret, with some 70 families. "You can see the construction from my window, they're at it day and night," said Ateret resident Motti Hominer, who began organizing against the town. "Where are those 25,000 people going to drive? My wife for instance works in Shilo, how is she going to get to work? You're going to put 20,000 more cars on that road. Anyone going to Jerusalem will get stuck in traffic."

"And while we're at it, where are they going to dump their waste? All their landfill sites are full. We've got Wadi Harmiya here choking with sewage. If we're going to be neighbors we need to talk about it ... how do we know their sewage won't end up in the wadi between us and them," said Hominer.

According to a recent newsletter published by Bayti, Rawabi will have a sewage treatment plant allowing it to use reclaimed water in agriculture.

Construction of the plant, subcontracted to an American company, will begin in the spring, the newsletter said.

Hominer also voiced concerns that the new Palestinian city may encroach close enough to put his community under risk of attack.

"Maybe they'll start shooting at us like they shoot at Psagot," he said.

"Maybe we'll be living behind concrete walls before long."

The residents were joined by MK Zevulun Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi), who said he approached Defense Minister Ehud Barak about their concerns.

"We're in a construction freeze and the Arabs are building," he said. "The solution for the Palestinian housing shortage is building new neighborhoods on existing infrastructure. Building a new city from scratch is wasteful. It's not even meant to resolve humanitarian problems it's for the well-to-do."

"The city's only purpose is to create territorial continuity between Ramallah and Samaria. It was planned in a rush, without proper infrastructure and without a solution for the sewage that will go flowing into the valleys," said Yehuda Eliyahu of the Regavim advocacy group. "It's part of a wider move of setting up a de-facto Palestinian state."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1151971.html