RAWABI, West Bank \u2014 As gambles go, it hardly gets bigger: A $1 billion dollar bet on peace \u2014 or at least a measure of calm \u2014 in the West Bank.<\/p>\n
Even the founder of Rawabi, the biggest construction project in the history of the Palestinian people, says nobody in his right mind would invest here.<\/p>\n
Standing on a wind-swept hilltop overlooking the biblical hills of Judea, a half-hour drive from Ramallah, Bashar Al-Masri points to the Palestinian flags flying atop the giant cranes that are building, with phenomenal speed, the first modern Palestinian town.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a teenager, raising the Palestinian flag was enough to be shot and killed,\u201d he says, immaculate in a form-hugging, thin-lapelled dark suit and narrow burgundy tie.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a small, symbolic way of how long we came along, and how much we will come along in the future,\u201d adds Al-Masri, who as a teenager threw stones at Israeli soldiers.<\/p>\n
The largest flag is mounted on a pole facing the Jewish settlement of Atteret, a community of about a hundred families located across a small valley.<\/p>\n
The flag is a deliberate statement.<\/p>\n