At Asal, 120 software developers work in a large, air-conditioned open plan office fronted by a semi-circular glass wall. Twenty percent of them are women.
Also, they take salaries of 70% less than us? Ya Allah, we're fucked. Better get all the West Bank tech workers employed to bring the wages up to our levels.
Very eye-opening. A lot of great innovation in that region (on both sides). Met a team that's independently constructing wind mills in the West Bank to power up to 20% of their energy team. Another that is making custom furniture for small spaces in Gaza.
There were Israeli companies outsourcing to Ramallah instead of Bangalore, and ideas and ingenuity was very impressive. All in all, I was extremely impressed.
The path forward, I've always believed, was rooted in economic prosperity. Nothing creates chaos like poverty with no chances of escape.
When I left the company they were actively trying to hire engineers from the West Bank. Apparently this used to be hard to do, but has gotten easier thanks to a government-sponsored (from both sides) program.
I believe it's a win-win -- Palestinians of the West Bank are cheaper than Israeli engineers and in need of better paying jobs. And hopefully working together will lead to more cross-cultural understanding.
I found myself quite depressed by the politics of the region and didn't like flying there -- but this provided a much needed glimmer of hope.
More info for the curious: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-high-tech-compa...
Clearly aid agencies are doing good things sometimes. And there are NGOs moving toward fostering business and accountability rather than traditional giving. Still, a lot of work needs to be done. Basically aid should be reserved for post-emergency situations, I believe. Multi-decade aid programs are not going to lead to self-sustaining economies. At least not if some major changes happen.
