High-tech expands in PA, despite intifada

Haaretz ^ | 11/9/2003 | Oded Hermoni

[yonif]

During the past three years, while the intifada was raging, the number of Palestinian high-tech firms rose by 88 percent, from 40 to 75. These high-tech ventures include software firms and Internet service providers, but "there are still no real start-up companies," according to the vice chairman of the Palestinian Information Technology Association (PITA), Ahmad Abumarzouq.

Abumarzouq says that the nascent high-tech sector in the Palestinian Authority has been relatively unscathed by the intifada compared to other Palestinian industries. "Via conference calls and the Internet, we can overcome curfews and road blocks, and be global. Thus we had fewer problems than other economic spheres," he explains.

The main market for Palestinian high-tech companies is the Arab world. According to Abumarzouq, Palestinian high-tech has enjoyed relative success in marketing software solutions and services to the Gulf states, which have acquired the appropriate technological infrastructure.

"There is a change in the Arab public in recent years. Some of the Palestinians who lived abroad returned with experience in the high-tech field and with aspirations of developing infrastructure. But the problem is that there are still many university educated engineers we cannot use due to a lack of infrastructure," notes Abumarzouq, who returned from the United States to establish the Gaza-based Palestine Internet Services (PIS) company.

PITA recorded another milestone last week, announcing an investment of $3.2 million to create the first technology incubator in the PA. The incubator - a joint venture of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Palestinian Trade Center (Paltrade), the Palestinian Telecommunications Company (Paltel) and a Palestinian financial institution - will be established in Ramallah and is slated to begin operating in 2004.

[yonif]

Abumarzouq says that the nascent high-tech sector in the Palestinian Authority has been relatively unscathed by the intifada compared to other Palestinian industries. "Via conference calls and the Internet, we can overcome curfews and road blocks, and be global. Thus we had fewer problems than other economic spheres," he explains.

Terrorists can communicate and coordinate with each other when committing attacks, release flyers saying they were responsible for an attack, and attract more eager members.