Palestinian and Jewish youth are
leading the way . . . again.
An Israeli, a Palestinian, and a Jewish American young
and "only" college students have teamed up to create part of an
economic blueprint to get Palestine on its feet and reduce the desperation in
young people that leads to violence.
Jozoor Microfinance: The
Roots of Change in the Middle East they call their creative
initiative. It's on the Web at:
The guys are Uri Pomerantz (
Uri@jozoor.org ), a Stanford University senior; Hisham Jabi ( Jabi@jozoor.org
), Claremont College business student; and Bryan Berkett ( Bryan@jozoor.org ),
Columbia University undergraduate student.
The team advisers include Professor Hamid Dabashi,
head of Middle Eastern Studies at Columbia and Nadav Morag, a member of
Israelis National Security Council.
Listen online to streaming audio of the
five-minute Microlending for Palestinians interview of Jozoor youth-partners on
Minnesota Public Radio's "MarketPlace" from April 25, 2003 by
reporter Gabriel Spitzer.
Microcredit has been used to fight
poverty in poor countries with great success.
Jozoor Microfinance would give small loans to young
Palestinian men.
With capital, the selected Palestinians can start
small businesses, employ other Palestinians, and develop the economy.
The idea to help people who might otherwise turn to
violence came to Uri Pomerantz last year, after his aunt was killed in
Jerusalem by a Palestinian militant.
Instead of violence, Uri's choice of
"retribution" was to us his energy and creativity to help correct the
root causes of violence.
Jozoors founders hope to raise $32,000 for a pilot
project, and later up that to $3 million.
Thanks to our friend Beth-ann Roth
Kirby ( Roth@Investlaw.net ) for this news.
Batya is a skilled Washington, DC attorney with
experience in securities law and financial development.
As her contribution to peace for her Jewish people,
and for the Palestinians as well, she has always wished to help with a capital
markets development project to create a thriving Palestinian economy.
When she discovered Jolool on the Internet, she
contacted them promptly and has offered her assistance.