Economic Peace: A Tale of Two Cities

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way."

-A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Yes, sometimes we look from those summits in Washington to the conflict in Israel and our eyes darken and it feels like the worst of times, like we are all going to hell, Arabs, Jews and all the rest. However there are places where we feel it is the best of times, an epoch of belief with  everything before us.  One such place is Rawabi.



Rawabi 3D illustration



Rawabi is a new city to be constructed by Palestinians for Palestinians outside of Ramallah. The new venture is one of hope, forward looking sentiments of a bright tomorrow. Colorful  3D animations already display the bustling city streets, green parks and historic view while the founders promise high education, ample business and employment opportunities. A pink vision for the future Palestine.



What do the Israeli's say about all this?  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he supports Rawabi's construction. Going back to 2008 Netanyahu said "We must weave an economic peace alongside a political process, that means that we have to strengthen the moderate parts of the Palestinian economy by encouraging rapid growth in those area, growth that gives a stake for peace for the ordinary Palestinians."



Not very far away are our headquarters in a city named Modiin. Modiin had quite similar beginnings. It is a modern planned city with the highest environmental standards of urban planning and a design for future growth. The city rose from nothing in 1993 and today is home to approximately 80,000 people.



Modiin, Israel



As Jerusalem became more orthodox and hard-lined many of its Jewish moderate communities moved to Modiin. And I wonder whether Rawabi would be an escape for the moderate Palestinian, an oasis of economic peace in the midst of political turmoil.





Moderation is profoundly simpler when the fundamental elements of life such as education, employment and community are provided for. Luckily moderate people have a tendency to build and innovate. So in Israel and in Palestine moderate people will continue to build cities where they can nurture their peaceful way of life and where they will feel at home.