Tasting peace - Palestinians visit new shopping mall

The Jerusalem Post ^ | August 9, 2003 | The Associated Press

[IsraelBeach]

Tasting peace - Palestinians visit new shopping mall By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tugging impatiently at his mother's shirt, 5-year-old Rami Tubasi had only one thing on his mind: a few more laps around the go-cart track.

Sawsan Tubasi, 30, was happy to hand over two shekels to give her son another ride.

With its glossy new supermarket, food court, amusement arcades and entertainment center, the West Bank's first American-style shopping mall is a magnet for weary Palestinians yearning for a normal life after years of violence.

"We don't have anything like this," Sawsan Tubasi said Saturday. "It's safe, convenient, and it's also affordable."

The gleaming new Plaza mall is a sign of hope and a big business risk in Ramallah, the West Bank's commercial center and the Palestinians' administrative base,

The violence-scarred city has little to offer families in terms of entertainment. Few parks dot its landscape, and repeated Israeli incursions over the past three years of violence have done millions of dollars in damage, discouraged investors and taken an emotional toll on the people.

Israeli troops still maintain checkpoints throughout the West Bank and regularly enter Palestinian towns in search of wanted terrorists.

But with a six-week-old cease-fire by Palestinian militants and a U.S.-backed peace plan bringing a relative respite from violence for Palestinians and Israelis alike, the new mall has proved a hit.

"We've been here six times already," said 29-year-old pharmacist Khaled Nazer, grappling with the steering wheel of a race-car arcade game as his 2-year-old daughter wriggled in his lap. "I think I come here for myself as much as I come here for my kid."

The play area complete with go-cart track, a mini train, miniature bowling, basketball hoops, an array of arcades and a small theater where cartoons run all day is by far the mall's biggest attraction.

There's also a spacious modern supermarket with local and American goods, a fish market, a bakery, a produce section, and a butcher. Staffed largely by college and high-school students, the mall has a young and vibrant feel.

General manager Sam Bahour acknowledges the $10 million shopping center is a financial risk. While the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan aims to end violence and establish a Palestinian state by 2005, concrete progress toward that goal has been slow, and violence could erupt again when the militants' unilateral cease-fire expires in late September.

"The Palestinian business community doesn't work only based on business," said American-born Bahour. "We have a vested political and national interest to be here."

Bahour, 39, said the project, which was supposed to take a year and a half to complete, ended up taking five. At times, board members and investors a mix of local and foreign-based Palestinian business people doubted their project would ever be finished.

The dozens of retail outlets on the plaza's second floor still await their tenants and are scheduled to open in October. But, with backers determined to move ahead and tired of waiting for peace to break out, the mall opened for business in July.

Bahour says the mall, and the hundreds of construction and retail jobs it created, is a way of resisting Israeli military occupation.

"Some people resist by throwing stones, we resist by creating jobs," said Bahour. "And personally I think our way is far more effective."

Sneaking away from her grandchildren to bowl a few rounds, Grace Ziyadeh, like many in Ramallah, appreciates the new addition to her city. Describing the last years of conflict as suffocating, Ziyadeh said the mall is a breath of fresh air.

"Our city needs places like this," she said as she knocked down eight bowling pins. "It makes one feel like things just might be changing for the better. True or not, it's a good feeling."

[IsraelBeach]

I wonder if they have security guards posted at the entrance against Jewish suicide bombers :>

Don't think so....

[RoughDobermann]

Ping

[ExSafecracker]

Might as well let little Rami Tubasi have fun now, be strapping a bomb belt on him next week.

[Joe Boucher]

I often wonder why the Jews don't blow off bombs in places like these where palis congregate if the palis are bombing places Jews congregate.
And yes I am aware that this is the 1st mall but there are other places like shops and restaurants and places of worship.

[Alouette]

ping

[Salem]

"Tugging impatiently at his mother's shirt, 5-year-old Rami Tubasi had only one thing on his mind: a few more laps around the go-cart track...."

Why, how absolutely suburban. I am encompassed with warm, fuzzy feelings and optimism for the future. Oh, aren't you ... aren't you? Hope springs eternal as marketing, capitalism, and free markets brings "peace" and "democracy" to the West Bank.

I'm sure little Rami Tubasi felt such emotions as he, in passing, glances in the window of "Suicide Belts Are Us," dances through the doors at closing time with mom, off to a PA school the next day where he continues his full-throttle indoctrination in virulent Jew hate and bitter anti-Americanism.

Nine Year Old Gunman
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[Hank Rearden]

I'll bet the "Bombs 'R Us" store in that mall does really well.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

"Bahour says the mall, and the hundreds of construction and retail jobs it created, is a way of resisting Israeli military occupation."

The faster that they abandon the war mantra of everything being "a way of resisting Israeli military occupation", the faster they will be a true peace partner.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

You are so right about the tone of the article. I did feel warm, fuzzy, and optimistic after the 1st read.

[yonif]

weary Palestinians yearning for a normal life

Thanks for the ping.

The "Palestinians" yearn for a life free from the existence of Israel on the map. I wouldn't consider that "normal."

[spectacularbid2003]

I doubt Arafat will allow this for very long. Anything that takes the hardship out of the lives he professes to care for will undermine his authority. What good would it do Arafat for the Palestinians to be prosperous? I do not think it would be advantageous for him. But, we shall see.