Helena Cobban in the OPT's:

Bantustan Days, Part 1

... Or, 25 interesting things about Ramallah and its environs.

1.

Whole areas of the Greater Ramallah area now loom like "Dubai on a hilltop", with clusters of large high-rises either recently built, or still being built. Many are glossy, glass-fronted "trade centers" or "office complexes." Who's been financing this massive wave of development? Some of it, clearly, has been financed by western donor governments eager to prop up the Ramallah-based "Palestinian Authority'. Many area residents say, however, that much of it has been financed by the very extensive, and relatively well-off, networks of Ramallah expatriates. Some people say that as much as 90% of the Palestinians whose family origins are here now live elsewhere-- primarily in the US. When they've sent money 'home', over the years, they have generally loved to plow it into real-estate development. Back in the days of full-bore Israeli occupation, the military authorities kept a tight lid on Palestinian building. Now, they are 'free' to indulge their wildest real-estate fantasies (and some truly are pretty wild and tasteless.) The results do not make it easy to persuade the many international NGOs who flock to Palestine that there is any real socioeconomic need here. Yes, there is need in Palestine, including a lot of it in other parts of the West Bank, as well as in Gaza. But for the most part you don't find it if you stay inside Ramallah.

2.

Many of the city's high-rises are now occupied by PA 'ministries.' By some counts there are 37 of them, each with its own grandiose marble-clad building. (Often, little goes on inside, but that's another question.) But the PA is not a sovereign government. In fact it has a jurisdiction and mandate that is far more circumscribed than that of my home-state, Virginia. In Virginia, the state-- or Commonwealth, as it is somewhat grandiosely known-- has a 'Department of Education', a 'Department of Transport', etc etc. Wouldn't it be more appropriate for the PA to call these bodies "Departments", and to keep them to a reasonable and effective scale? Calling them 'ministries', it seems to me, is just another instance of PA grandiosity and legerdemain.

3.

Ramallah has numerous lively and engaging cafes and eateries-- and apparently some bars and night-clubs, though I didn't check those out. But I don't think it has a single decent bookstore. H'mmm.... I moved from there to East Jerusalem recently; one of the first things I did was wander along Jerusalem's Salahuddin Street to the Educational Bookstore. Although it's tiny it always has the most stunning and well-organized selection of books on current political and cultural topics, in Arabic and English. Maybe they should open a branch in Ramallah? READ MORE

-mr