The head of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics walks near the separation wall in Qalqilia. (Khaleel Reash, Maan Images)

Life is booming in one hilltop West Bank town despite a year of crippling Western sanctions against a Hamas-led government and recent bloodshed elsewhere between rival Palestinian factions.

In Shyoukh, north of the city of Hebron and home to some 10,000 people, construction projects that include roads, schools and the town's main mosque have been expanded, mainly because of funding from wealthy residents.

Most members of the town council and the majority of its voters support the Islamist group Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip last month by force after weeks of fighting against forces loyal to secular President Mahmoud Abbas.

Despite tensions that have risen since then, many of the residents funding the new construction belong to Fatah, Hamas's political foe.

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"We are one family and no one can touch the unity of the people, no matter how different we are politically," said Yasin Ewaidat, a Fatah leader.

"When people pay their dues, they are not supporting Fatah or Hamas. They are respecting themselves."

The United States and other world powers stopped aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas, which advocates violence against Israel, beat Fatah in a January 2006 parliamentary election.

A majority in Shyoukh voted for Hamas, though the Islamists' main power base is in the smaller Gaza Strip.

The aid embargo crippled most Palestinian areas. Israel and Western nations restored financial flows to the West Bank after Hamas's takeover of Gaza on June 14 left Fatah in control of the larger territory.

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