Rawabi (روابي‎, “hills” in Arabic) is the first planned city of Palestine, located in the West Bank. A couple of minutes by car from Birzeit and Ramallah, both thriving Palestinian cities, Rawabi is defined as a brand-new public city, even though it has been entirely funded by private capital.

The money for this massive architectural project came after an agreement was signed between the founder of the city, Bashar Masri, a member of one the wealthiest families in the Palestinian economy considered to be one of the most successful entrepreneurs actually born in the West Bank, and the State of Qatar.

The initiative started with the signature of an agreement (PPP) with the Palestinian Authority in 2008. The purpose of this agreement was to elevate Rawabi to the status of public city, despite the lack of public funds engaged.

The construction of the city only took off two years later, after encountering several challenges related to its problematic location. First of all, while Rawabi falls entirely within Area A -under full control of the Palestinian Authority-  the access route to the site is located in Area C of the West Bank and fervently controlled by the State of Israel, which posed countless difficulties to its proper construction.

Furthermore, water supplies are also coming from the neighbouring State, resulting in scarcity and a constant danger of supply cuts. Last but not least, Rawabi’s site is surrounded by Israeli settlements, facing a fierce resistance by the settlers established nearby the complex which includes vandalic acts and threats. 

After overcoming all these problems, the city is now conceived as a truly smart city: optical fiber, solar panels, electric vehicles, green areas and the adequate conditions for the creation of a high-tech center in Palestine. In fact, the Rawabi Tech Hub wants to turn Palestine into a commercially viable destination for high-tech businesses and to create a centralized, expandable and diverse innovation ecosystem.

The value that this Tech Hub aims at offering to the companies is quite simple:

• A gate to the Middle East and the Arab countries
• Proximity to the main technological parks and multinational offices located in Israel
• High-quality workforce at extremely competitive prices
• Speed for hiring and training this workforce
• International and local projects

While surrounding countries such as Egypt or Jordan face an unemployment rate that ranges 12-18%, unemployment in the West Bank reaches 27%, including more than 42% of unemployment amongst youngsters (20-24 years). Initiatives like Rawabi tend to put a solution to this problem, trying to attract international investment with some benefits such as tax incentives or security.

Besides the great initiative of fostering the Palestinian high-tech, Rawabi is to become the largest entertainment spot in the entire West Bank. The “crown jewel” of the Wadina complex – where there is also a wine cellar – is a 15,000 seats outdoor Roman theater, the biggest in the Middle East.  Artist such as Saber Rebaï from Tunisia, Omar Al-Abdallat from Jordan and Mohammad Assaf from Palestine have already performed in this theatre, gathering the biggest agglomeration of Palestinians.

Regarding the mall, Q Center is the first space in the West Bank to actually offer many international brands to the Palestinian population, who were forced to travel long distances to find a richer offer in nearby countries. New Balance, Pepe Jeans, Mango or Vans are just some of the international brands offering their latest designs to the Palestinian shoppers. 

The ultimate goal of the whole concept of Rawabi is to show the world that Palestine offers significant opportunities in different fields such as Hi-Tech. The image of the country portrayed by the international media does not fully reflect the potential of the Palestinians, an issue that’s being tackled by this kind of initiatives.

Criticized by many for its oblivion of the occupation subject and its attempt of “normalization”, many people question its ability to actually succeed, as the lack of stability in the area will most likely refrain investors from betting for Rawabi. Opinions amongst Palestinian citizens differ from its recognition as a window for improvement in the area to its strong judgement for collaborating with Israeli Authorities.

So far, it looks like the city is having some trouble finding tenants for the thousands of sustainable apartments built for the area’s workforce. While it looks like a promising project conceived to host more than 40,000 residents, the weakened Palestinian economy doesn’t let the average Palestinian family to afford one of those residences. Tenement options in Rawabi differ from single studios to family condos, in an effort to integrate the traditional Arabic concept of a big family house and the most modern independent youth, but neither the latter nor the former can massively afford to move far from the bustling center of Ramallah. 

Therefore, many of the residences remain still vacant, while the sold properties have been acquired mainly by American-Palestinians and Israeli Arabs either in search of investment or for leisure purposes. Palestinian-born buyers are mostly young professionals graduated from Birzeit or Al Quds Universities aiming at new work-related opportunities, from whom several women are taking the lead. While Palestine has certainly been delayed in the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem compared to its neighbouring landscapes, there is interest and, moreover, there is definitely talent.

A report recently published by the World Bank is quite clear on this regard:

“The key strengths of the (tech startup) ecosystem (in the West Bank and Gaza) are the presence of talented people, with highly educated founders (85% of them having a University degree and 27% with graduate degrees) and the connection with international networks of knowledge (primarily through international universities and accelerator programs)”. 

As a matter of fact, Palestinian women are considered to be very well prepared and eager to success, despite the non-always friendly environment they sometimes encounter. Indeed, this ecosystem has one of the largest participation of female entrepreneurs amongst similar ecosystems such as Lebanese. 

Since 2009, the number of start-ups in the West Bank and Gaza has rocketed, showing a compounded growth rate of 34% in start-up creation, but net figures are still far from maturity. Initiatives such as Rawabi are one of the main infrastructures supporting this growth, together with a rampant number of incubators and accelerators. Bader, Bethlehem Business Incubator, CEWAS or the Palestine’s Information and Communications Technology Incubator (PICTI) are just some examples, focused either on different sectors and expertise areas. The Tomorrow’s Youth Organization (TYO) also promotes entrepreneurship among women, considering female education and participation as the key source of support for Palestinian long-term economic growth. 

But the combined efforts made by all these local entities does not seem to be enough to support a significant growth of the ecosystem. At the end of the day, the Palestinian innovation ecosystem strongly depends on foreign aid and investment. Donors and publicly financed initiatives are vital for the sustainability of the start-up landscape, together with foreign private investment, which does not seem like an efficient strategy in the long-run. Creating a strong sustainable infrastructure in the Palestinian ecosystem will require coordinated initiatives from both private entities and local authorities.