SPRING EDITION home 2013 Rawabi: Right Here, The Women of Rawabi Fayyad: Rawabi Right Now Creates a New Reality on the Ground Live, Work, and Grow in the first Palestinian planned city Rawabi’s spring comes with the taste of success Welcome to another spring at Rawabi, where buildings are coming up out of the ground with the speed and beauty of Palestiinian flowers. While the flowers that dot the Rawabi hillside are the perfect handiwork of God, we are proud of what we have made here at Rawabi, and we seek to find the balance between divine creation and that of man that is pleasing to behold and represents man’s working to his full potential. The team spirit that binds the vast number of employees, managers and workers at Rawabi is seconded only by the pride we feel in what we are working to achieve for our fellow countrymen. We invite you to enjoy the latest issue of our Rawabi Home newsletter and look forward to seeing you out at Rawabi within the next weeks. Rawabi is being developed by Bayti Real Estate Investment Company, jointly NEWSLETTER owned by Ramallah-based Massar International and Qatari government- SPRING 2013 owned Qatari Diar – two companies with unsurpassed real estate development experience and extensive knowledge of regional and international markets. Rawabi will provide more than 5,000 well-priced contemporary housing BAYTI REAL ESTATE 4 Palestinian PM Dr. Salam Fayyad: Rawabi Creates a New 16 Rawabi’s Architecture finds its Inspiration in Nature units with nine different floor plans to choose from, spread across 23 INVESTMENT COMPANY Reality on the Ground Rawabi, Palestine 17 Wild Flowers of Rawabi neighborhoods. The city will also include a commercial center, a business (+970) 2 294 7555 6 The Women of Rawabi district, a hotel and convention center, public and private schools, medical 18 Rawabi’s First Family Has Already Moved In 8 Mothers are a treasure we hold buried in our hearts for all facilities, mosques, and a church, as well as extensive green recreation 19 Palestinian Film “Omar” Wins Jury Prize at the time space. Rawabi will initially be home to 25,000 residents, with additional Cannes Film Festival residential and commercial units slated for subsequent construction phases [email protected] 9 Global Business Leaders Explore Palestine In-Depth Rawabi 20 Rawabi: A Destination for Palestinian University that will ultimately serve a city with a population of 40,000. www.rawabi.ps Highlights Week-Long Visit Students 10 Rawabi: Right Here, Right Now 22 The Hands that Build Rawabi Panoramic view Watch us now on Rawabi Live 24 hours a day 11 Maintaining Sustainability www.rawabi.ps/panorama.php www.rawabi.ps/cams.php 23 Rawabi Visitors 12 Fully Equipped Apartments 4 5 SPRING SPRING 2013 2013 During his visit, Fayyad also met one-on-one with local contractors and architectural teams, most of whom are the graduates of Palestinian universities. He congratulated them on their achievements and encouraged them to remain committed and passionate in their careers. Bashar Masri, Managing Director of Bayti Real Estate Investment Company, was also on hand to express gratitude to the Prime Minister for his visit and to accept his praise for the new city on behalf of the 3,000 workers employed there. Masri also thanked Fayyad for the support he showed for the project from its first days, noting that the public-private partnership that launched Rawabi was Palestinian PM Dr. Salam Fayyad: an integral component in the city’s success. Rawabi Creates a New Reality on the Ground His Excellency Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad recently ground. It is succeeding where political efforts in the same toured the City of Rawabi to monitor its progress and to see realm have failed. The Israeli government has not been able first-hand the visible results of a project he championed from to stop the building of Rawabi, in spite of the many obstacles its first days. Fayyad noted in his remarks to an international and hindrances to construction that were put in the path of the delegation of businesspeople that the economic impact of Palestinian developer. This is a fact.” the new city is hard to overstate. “Palestinians have proven themselves for decades that they are capable of constructing Fayyad added, “But put political considerations aside and such a vast new undertaking, working as we have in similar consider what we are achieving in the construction of a truly developments throughout the world. Now, we are bringing modern infrastructure here in this city. As an economist, I that talent and industriousness home to the work of building admire the thinking and planning that has gone into this great our own nation. It is long overdue, but it is here, and it is Palestinian endeavor. The underground network of water, happening. And we are proud.” power, fiber optic and sewage lines rival those of developed nations. Municipal functions and schools are already planned Fayyad also noted the importance of the new city as an for, not just for the first wave of residents but for the next impediment to the inexorable creep of Israeli settlement phase of construction as well. This is a modern city built by expansion. “Rawabi is stopping the expansion of Israeli Palestinians for Palestinians, for today and for tomorrow. And settlements by creating a new, immovable reality on the that’s how Palestine is going to thrive in a global economy.” 6 7 SPRING SPRING 2013 2013 The Women of Rawabi Since the idea of Rawabi was first conceived, Palestinian women have played a major role in every aspect of its development. Rawabi’s management has consistently engaged in “gender-blind” employment practices, giving our talented women identical opportunities to achieve and excel. The fields and disciplines of architecture, engineering and management have been historically dominated by men, not just at Rawabi but throughout the world. And as those old patterns have shifted to showcase the superb skills of women entering these fields, Rawabi has afforded scores of Palestinian women the chance to realize not only their ambitions but to fulfill their potential as well. In May, we salute the achievements of Palestinian women and women everywhere. Vital Voices Recognizes Palestinian Businesswoman Manal Zraiq with 2013 Economic Empowerment Award Vital Voices is a US- based NGO founded by business groups and the developers of Rawabi, women in the Palestinian work force, inspiring and there is always something each one of us can do for a better former First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton in 1997. the first Palestinian planned city. and guiding young female entrepreneurs on future.” Their mission is to identify, invest in and bring their paths to success. Massar International has long known that In May, Mrs. Zraiq hosted an event at Rawabi attended by more than visibility to extraordinary women around the Mrs. Zraiq is an extraordinary woman. As one On stage at the Kennedy Center in front of 300 Palestinian women who came to share with her the joy of her world by unleashing their leadership potential of the first employees of Massar Associates, an international audience of thousands, Mrs. achievement and to thank her for the contributions she has made to to transform lives and accelerate peace and she worked diligently to advance herself and Zraiq accepted Vital Voices 2013 Economic the advancement of her fellow countrywomen. prosperity in their own countries. the interests of the company, which under her Empowerment Award on behalf of all Palestinian All of us in the Massar International group congratulate Manal on In April, Massar International’s Manal Yaish leadership grew and expanded to become one women. her amazing achievement, and share with her in the pride she has Zraiq was honored in the Kennedy Center of Palestine’s most important corporate groups. From the podium, she said, “Allow me to brought to the city of Rawabi, the Business Woman Forum but most in Washington, DC with Vital Voices 2013 A working wife and mother of three children, dedicate this award to Palestine, and to every importantly, the women of Palestine. Economic Empowerment Award. Mrs. Zraiq Mrs. Zraiq embodies the model of work-life single woman who fights in her own way for was chosen to receive this highly prestigious Read more about Vital Voices work in the world at www. balance. Recognizing the challenges faced by peace. This award is not for what I have done, international award for her achievements as a vitalvoices.org the women of Palestine both at home and in but is a challenge for me to do more for my co-founder of the Palestinian Business Women the work place, she co-founded in 2006 the country. And while we may face things that Watch Manal Yaish Zraiq live at the Kennedy Center in Forum and for her contributions as a partner in Palestine Business Woman Forum, a women’s frustrate us, or frighten us, we must continue. Washington, DC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- Massar International, one of Palestine’s largest empowerment group dedicated to advancing We must keep hope on. There is always hope, TUrB1f4Na0 In the Spotlight: Rawabi Architect Shefa’ Salah Shefa’ Salah, one of the female architects engaged in the creation of Rawabi, distinguished herself early on as an outstanding student in her years studying architecture at Birzeit Dr. Sherin An-Nather: from Rawabi to France University. A year after graduation, Ms. Salah was selected to design the Samir Awad “The support I received from Bayti Real Estate Investment Company is the basis for my Memorial Garden at Birzeit, also known as “Al Sharafeh”.