Thread by @LearsiReverof

1/ Today I visited #Rawabi, a new Palestinian city built from scratch, sponsored mostly by Basher Al-Masri, a Palestinian/American business man, & the Qatari government. I was part of a hit-tech delegation seeking to employ Palestinians for R&D centers of Israeli companies.

2/It was so delighting to see such fire and passion in the eyes of Palestinian business leadership, who are dedicating their lives for a better future of Palestinians through building relations with Israeli counterparts. The city has a way to go but it's a shining lighthouse.

3/ They take pride in Rawabi saying they want it to be the Palestinian equivalent of "Silicon Valley & Tel-Aviv". They see beyond hate, and host and visit Israel very often. They take pride in pursuing a Palestinian state, next to a JEWISH state (contrary to "state with Jews").

4/ They self-proclaim to be a minority of opinion. Some have grandparents who were forcefully expelled from Jaffa, Ramla and other areas who now belong to Israel. They don't seek a right to return or live there, but they do want the right to visit there (some already did).

5/ The claim to have 3 main layers of Palestinian society:
1. Minority like them, who actively works for relationship and normalization w/Israel
2. Extreme radicals who are part of hostile/terror orgs who undermine #1
3. The indifferent majority - people who just life their life

6/ They say #2 are the ones currently dictating & interfering any chance to a normal process. #3 will play along with neither but mainly just want a normal life. They hope to be the "crazy, radical minority" who works the benefit of good for all sides. They say it will take time.

7/ They actually have no problem with Zionists or Zionism - and more over - they relate to it, in a sense that it too was a "crazy idea by people who were considered crazy, but had the vision and resources to implement the idea of building a state for Jews". This was refreshing.

8/They have a lot of criticism on Israel's checkpoint policy, stating it's unpredictable and creates traffic jams in already rush hours. They understand sometimes there's a need for it, but feel it's too strict at times and can be humiliating at times.
They hate #Hamas very much.

9/They claim #Hamas has created a way to manipulate some Palestinians and the world that it is of good intentions, that they can change and can liberate the Palestinian people. They will leave Palestine if Hamas will rule the WB. The only chance for a Palestinian state, to them:

10/Int'l intervention which will help build an infrastructure for a state, will appoint officials from UN to a limited time of helping set a new order and co-op with Israel on everything. Hamas will need to forfeit its charter entirely, disarm & come to end (like Irgun/Lehi did).

11/Overall, interesting day. Another thing I learned is that for 5-6 years now, Arab-Israelis are completely free to go into any WB area. This really boosted WB economy as many many Arab-Israelis do their shopping and hang out there very often. Maybe 1 day it'll be opposite too.