“We want this to look like New York and Dubai,” Abbas said today as he attended a ceremony to mark the start of the Ersal Center, a 13-tower joint venture between the authority’s Palestine Investment Fund and the Riyadh-based Land Real Estate Investment and Development Co. “This is a new vision for Palestine.”

The project, which breaks ground next week on an El-Bireh hilltop overlooking Ramallah’s old city center, will contain the new corporate headquarters for Bank of Palestine, Chairman Hashim Shawa said. Negotiations are under way for Wataniya Palestine Mobile Telecommunications Co. to occupy a second tower, said Mohammed Mustafa, the Palestinian fund’s chairman and chief executive officer. The joint venture is named Arduna.