Zvi Schreiber is a British-born serial entrepreneur who established the headquarters of his latest tech startup, a software company called Global Hosted Operating System (G.ho.st), in Israel last year.
G.ho.st has developed a “virtual PC” that saves all of a person’s files online so data and programs can be gathered from any computer. As Schreiber sees it, the Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh operating systems that cram applications and documents all inside one physical computer will soon be obsolete.
“Our G.ho.st virtual computer will enable users to get their computing environment from any browser — and we’ll eventually compete head-on with Microsoft,” Schreiber predicts.
Taking on Microsoft is tough enough. But Schreiber is embracing another challenge: He’s helping create a high-tech economy in the Palestinian territories, one of the most poverty-stricken, crisis-riddled spots in the world. He has located the development center for G.ho.st in the West Bank.
A Tough Commute
It’s a bold move at a time when the Palestinians are facing an unprecedented economic crisis due to years of Israeli restrictions and border shutdowns imposed for security reasons. Some $7.4 billion in aid was pledged by international donors at a Dec. 17 conference in Paris to shore up the government of President Mahmoud Abbas. But what is really needed, according to a recent World Bank report, is economic integration of Israel and the Palestine territories — a task that’s far easier said than done.
Consider the challenges Schreiber confronts. Though he has hired three dozen Palestinian engineers and programmers in Ramallah, Schreiber has yet to set foot in the development center, located a mere 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of his home in Jerusalem. As an Israeli citizen, he is barred for security reasons from entering Palestinian-controlled parts of the West Bank. And Israel’s security fence prevents most Palestinians from entering Israel.
Still, the…