Based on articles by Karin Kloosterman and David Shamah, Israel 21C
Israel is second only to California's Silicon Valley for high-tech innovation and arguably, it's the best in the world for high-tech research and development. To be more competitive, Israelis, like their American counterparts, are now outsourcing programming jobs to people in India and China.
Recently a new trend has started: Israeli companies and branches of multinational companies in Israel are outsourcing work to Palestinians. While the thought of outsourcing to Palestinians might not have seemed plausible at first due to security concerns, after trying the idea out, Israelis are finding it a superior solution for many reasons.
"We realized that instead of fighting each other and throwing bombs we needed to work together," said Jonathan Levy, general manager for the chip manufacturer Winbond in Israel: "I started thinking that it would be better to hire a Palestinian engineer to develop our less complex products, for reasons related to cost calculations as well as problems of language, culture and deadlines," he said in a local newspaper.
During a meeting of the Young Presidents' Organization, Levy was introduced to Murad Tahboub, the managing director of Asal Technologies, in Ramallah, who manages a team of about 35 full-time and 12 part-time Palestinian programmers.
Cost-effective labor, working in the same time zone, a workforce with a good command of the English language and high productivity rates, make Palestinian programmers desirable, but not just for Israelis, but any multinational company, says Tahboub.
"But not only in Palestine but in all areas where there is political instability," says Tahboub, who studied at an American college in Europe: "If people have good jobs, if their kids are getting an education, if there is good medical treatment and retirement plans, then they would not think radically, and would try to improve what they have."
Hiring Palestinian engineers Tahboub concludes, "is an investment in peace."
Zvi Schreiber's G.ho.st (the Global Hosted Operating System, pronounced "ghost") is a shining example of how economic ties can lead to building trust and prosperity. The company's virtual operating system allows users to store files, write and save documents, surf the Web, and even send instant messages. The company's staff is made up of residents of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority - who have to meet and collaborate virtually, through video chats and on-line conferences.
The innovative company provides users with a uniform desktop and interface for individual users from any computer, anywhere in the world.
"Your files and e-mail follow you wherever you are, and so does your work environment, with all your personal settings and applications," says Schreiber, explaining how G.ho.st differs from existing online storage and e-mail solutions.
The G.ho.st office in Ramallah has about 40 employees, and much of the application's development is done there, while a smaller Israeli staff, working in Modiin, takes care of corporate and marketing duties for the company.
Because of security restrictions that prevent employees from each office traveling to the other office, the two staffs communicate mostly through the Internet, with an always-on video conference or through IM.
As far as relations between the two groups are concerned, "we don't limit communications between employees to work-related matters," says Schreiber, although of course, as a place of business, work issues predominate. But politics crops up too, especially when a major event affecting Israel and the PA occurs. "We have had some spirited discussions on political issues, whether through IM or on the company's blogs, but all the discussions have been respectful and issue oriented," Schreiber says.
Expressing a sentiment similar to that expressed by Murad Tahboub of Asal Technologies, Schreiber points out that everybody has a stake in peace - because everyone has a stake in economic prosperity.
Courtesy: Israel 21C