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Zahi W. Khouri is a Palestinian-American businessman and entrepreneur, who is best known for his involvement in numerous business ventures in the Palestinian territories.
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Zahi W. Khouri is a Palestinian-American businessman and entrepreneur, who is best known for his involvement in numerous business ventures in the Palestinian territories.
Khouri was born into a Palestinian Christian family in 1938 in the city of Jaffa, then part of Mandatory Palestine. His family fled the city during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, along with the majority of its Arab inhabitants, becoming Palestinian refugees in neighboring Lebanon. Khouri has described himself as "a faithful Christian". [1] Khouri lived in Lebanon until the 1960s, when he moved to Germany to pursue an advanced degree. [2]
Khouri earned a Master's degree in Engineering from the Stuttgart Institute of Technology, before going on to receive an M.B.A. from the European Institute of Business Administration, INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. [2] [3]
In 1967, he moved to the United States, where he settled in Richmond, Virginia and built a career in international business. [2] "Mr. Khouri was an Executive Board Member of the Olayan Group in Saudi Arabia (as CEO of Olayan Saudi Holdings) and NY (as CEO of Olayan Development Co) for over 20 years. He also holds a number of civic positions among others, the Chairman of NGO Development Center (NDC) in Jerusalem, the Palestine Business Committee for Peace and Reform (PBCPR) in Washington, the Carter Advisory body in Palestine and Chairman of the local chapter of Partners for New Beginning, affiliated with Aspen Institute". [4]
Following the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993, which granted limited sovereignty to the Palestinians in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Khouri moved back to Palestine in order to establish business ventures there along with several other Palestinian entrepreneurs. He helped establish the Palestinian Development and Investment Company (PADICO), the largest Palestinian investment company, as well as the Palestinian National Beverage Company, which manufactures and markets Coca-Cola products under official franchise in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He was also the CEO of Jawwal, the only Palestinian telecommunications company and cellular service provider. [2]
Khouri has been an outspoken critic of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and has met with American government officials as a representative of the Palestinian business community to voice concern over the effects of the Israeli occupation and embargo on the Palestinian economy. He has also published editorials in major U.S. newspapers condemning Israeli practices and calling for equal rights for Palestinians. [5]
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other efforts to resolve the broader Arab–Israeli conflict. Public declarations of claims to a Jewish homeland in Palestine, including the First Zionist Congress of 1897 and the Balfour Declaration of 1917, created early tensions in the region. Following World War I, the Mandate for Palestine included a binding obligation for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". Tensions grew into open sectarian conflict between Jews and Arabs. The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was never implemented and provoked the 1947–1949 Palestine War. The current Israeli-Palestinian status quo began following Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The history of the State of Palestine describes the creation and evolution of the State of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war and the Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refugees live in or near 68 Palestinian refugee camps across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In 2019 more than 5.6 million Palestinian refugees were registered with the United Nations.
The Jordanian annexation of the West Bank formally occurred on 24 April 1950, after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, during which Transjordan occupied territory that had previously been part of Mandatory Palestine and had been earmarked by the UN General Assembly Resolution 181 of 29 November 1947 for an independent Arab state to be established there alongside a Jewish state mainly to its west. During the war, Jordan's Arab Legion took control of territory on the western side of the Jordan River, including the cities of Jericho, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and eastern Jerusalem, including the Old City. Following the end of hostilities, the area that remained under Jordanian control became known as the West Bank.
The occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Arab Republic refers to the time period in which the present-day Palestinian territory known as the Gaza Strip was occupied by Egyptian forces of the United Arab Republic from 1949 to 1967. The Egyptian occupation of Gaza began with the inception of the territory in 1949 following the First Arab–Israeli War, and ended after Egypt's defeat to Israel in the Third Arab–Israeli War of 1967, after which the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip commenced. Egyptian rule in Gaza before the 1967 war had been continuous with the exception of a brief period from October 1956 to March 1957, when Israel invaded and occupied Gaza as well as the Sinai Peninsula during the Suez Crisis.
The economy of the State of Palestine refers to the economic activity of the State of Palestine.
Khoury also transliterated as "Khouri",, is a Levantine surname that is common to Christians in the Middle East. The term Khoury means "priest" in Levantine Arabic. It derives from the Latin word curia.
The Arab–Israeli conflict began in the 20th century, evolving from earlier Intercommunal violence in Mandatory Palestine. The conflict became a major international issue with the birth of Israel in 1948. The Arab–Israeli conflict has resulted in at least five major wars and a number of minor conflicts. It has also been the source of two major Palestinian uprisings (intifadas).
The Arab–Israeli conflict is an ongoing intercommunal phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century, but had mostly faded out by the early 21st century. The roots of the Arab–Israeli conflict have been attributed to the support by Arab League member countries for the Palestinians, a fellow League member, in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict; this in turn has been attributed to the simultaneous rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism towards the end of the 19th century, though the two national movements had not clashed until the 1920s.
Issues relating to the State of Palestine and aspects of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict occupy continuous debates, resolutions, and resources at the United Nations. Since its founding in 1948, the United Nations Security Council, as of January 2010, has adopted 79 resolutions directly related to the Arab–Israeli conflict.
Rashad al-Shawwa was the Palestinian mayor of Gaza for eleven years from 1971 to 1982. Before becoming mayor he was an outgoing local activist in the city. He was known by Israelis and Palestinians as the pro-Jordanian "father figure" of the Gaza Strip. He is the father of artist Laila Shawwa.
Lubna Suliman Olayan is a Saudi business woman. Born to Sulaiman Olayan and Maryam bint Jassim Al Abdulwahab, Olayan was listed as one of the top 100 most influential people of 2005 by Time magazine, and continued to be on the Forbes list of most powerful women until 2011 and returned to the list in 2014. In 2004, Olayan was the first woman in Saudi history to deliver an opening keynote address at a major conference in Saudi Arabia; at the Jeddah Economic Forum in January 2004.
The Portland Trust is a British non-profit ‘action tank’ whose mission is to promote peace and stability between Israelis and Palestinians through economic development. They work with a range of partners to help develop the Palestinian private sector and relieve poverty through entrepreneurship in Israel.
Events in the year 2008 in the Palestinian territories.
Khaled Al Sabawi is a Canadian serial-entrepreneur, engineer, impact investor, screenwriter, and executive producer. He is the Founder & CEO of Open Screenplay, Inc; CEO & Vice Chairman of Union Construction (UCI), Co-Founder of TABO Palestine; and Founder & President of MENA Geothermal. The son of Palestinian refugees from Gaza, he received his degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Canada in 2006 and later became the first certified Geothermal Engineer in the Arab Middle East Khaled was named "One of the World's Top Energy Entrepreneurs" by Global Post in 2010, and was ranked the 195th Most Influential Arab by Arabian Business Magazines in their Top 500 Most Influential Arabs ranking for 2012. In 2013, Khaled received the prestigious Takreem Award for Young Entrepreneur at their highly publicized awards ceremony in Paris, France. In October 2014, Khaled was featured on the cover of Forbes Middle East with the caption beside his picture reading "Industry of the Impossible" in Arabic along with the a feature article titled "The Good Deed" in English. On November 25, 2014 Khaled received the prestigious Young Alumni Achievement Medal from the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering in Canada, one of the most renowned faculties of engineering in the world. In 2015 Khaled was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Yasser Elshantaf is a Palestinian- German entrepreneur and political activist.
The All-Palestine Government was established on 22 September 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, to govern the Egyptian-controlled territory in Gaza, which Egypt had on the same day declared as the All-Palestine Protectorate. It was confirmed by the Arab League and recognised by six of the then seven Arab League members, with Transjordan being the exception. Though it claimed jurisdiction over the whole of the former Mandatory Palestine, its effective jurisdiction was limited to the All-Palestine Protectorate (which came to be called the Gaza Strip. The President of the protectorate was Hajj Amin al-Husseini, former chairman of the Arab Higher Committee, and the Prime Minister was Ahmed Hilmi Pasha. The legislative body was the All-Palestine National Council.
The Arab–Israeli war normally refers to the conflict between Arab countries and Israel.
Israel–Palestine relations refers to the political, security, economical and other relations between the State of Israel and the State of Palestine. Israel and the PLO began to engage in the late 1980s and early 1990s in what became the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, culminated with the Oslo Accords in 1993. Shortly after, the Palestinian National Authority was established and during the next 6 years formed a network of economic and security connections with Israel, being referred to as a fully autonomous region with self-administration. In the year 2000, the relations severely deteriorated with the eruption of the Al-Aqsa Intifada – a rapid escalation of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The events calmed down in 2005, with reconciliation and cease fire. The situation became more complicated with the split of the Palestinian Authority in 2007, the violent split of Fatah and Hamas factions, and Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip. The Hamas takeover resulted in a complete rift between Israel and the Palestinian faction in the Gaza Strip, cancelling all relations except limited humanitarian supply.
The All-Palestine Protectorate, or simply All-Palestine, also known as Gaza Protectorate and Gaza Strip, was a short-lived client state with limited recognition, corresponding to the area of the modern Gaza Strip, that was established in the area captured by the Kingdom of Egypt during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and allowed to run as a protectorate under the All-Palestine Government. The Protectorate was declared on 22 September 1948 in Gaza City, and the All-Palestine Government was formed. The Prime Minister of the Gaza-seated administration was Ahmed Hilmi Pasha and the President was Hajj Amin al-Husseini, former chairman of the Arab Higher Committee. In December 1948, just three months after the declaration, the All-Palestine Government was relocated to Cairo and was never allowed to return to Gaza, making it a government in exile. With further resolution of the Arab League to put the Gaza Strip under the official protectorate of Egypt in 1952, the All-Palestine Government was gradually stripped of authority. In 1953, the government was nominally dissolved, though the Palestinian Prime Minister Hilmi continued to attend Arab League meetings on its behalf. In 1959, the protectorate was de jure merged into the United Arab Republic, while de facto turning Gaza into military occupation area of Egypt.