Luxury Villas Rise in Palestinian Boomtown Built on Shaky Peace

Arab Israelis are purchasing luxury homes in Jericho، adding a new dynamic to their complex relationship with other Palestinians and Jewish Israelis.

Last year، two Palestinian sisters، Hilda and Diana، bought a villa in a desert oasis. Each of its three bedrooms has its own bathroom، and there are high-end appliances in the kitchen. Through remote-controlled sliding glass doors is a private swimming pool surrounded by antislip tiles and filled with water whose pH and chlorine level are monitored by computer. The villa، which cost them 1 million shekels ($264،000)، is tucked discreetly behind concrete walls، one of about 1،400 similar vacation homes in the area، with an additional 700 planned or already under construction. It’s part of a 750-acre development called Jericho Gate، which is also expected to include a water park، shopping malls، manicured public areas and medical tourism facilities related to nearby mineral-packed mud baths.

Hilda and Diana، who are unmarried and recently retired from careers at a hotel and a United Nations agency، respectively، see the weekend retreat as a way to play host to their other siblings and their nieces and nephews. It’s just a short drive from their home in Jerusalem، through the Judean Desert past Bedouin tents، ibexes and camels. After laying out slices of watermelon and chocolate biscuits for a reporter visiting their villa، the sisters explain that they thought they wouldn’t have the money to buy a property like this locally; they originally considered buying in Greece instead. “Then we heard about this،” says Hilda of Jericho Gate. “We live 25 minutes away by car، and we have our own pool and jacuzzi. It’s like a resort.”