Marking PIP's 10th Anniversary

It’s a difficult time to celebrate anything, of course – especially anything related to Israelis and Palestinians, given all the suffering on both sides.?But anniversaries come whether we’re ready or not - and I didn’t want to let the occasion of The Palestinian Internship Program (PIP) ’s 10th anniversary pass without a word about our accomplishments as well as a word of thanks to those who helped make them happen.

In January 2014, Zach Fenster helped me launch a program to match talented and ambitious Palestinian university graduates with internships at tech companies in Israel, to give them experience, know-how & networks that would help launch their careers in tech. The idea was (and still is) that this would help achieve several goals, in addition to their career advancement:?Stem ‘brain drain’ of Palestinian talent from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, many of whom found it impossible to find their first job; develop the Palestinian economy (when the internship alumni return home and start companies or join existing ones); and give these Palestinians and the Israelis working at the “host” companies an all-too-rare opportunity to meet, work together and get to know one another.?

We're incredibly proud of our 103 alumni who have completed internships at companies in Israel over the years.?They’ve told us that these internships have changed their career trajectories – and their lives.?They’ve provided unique perspective and value to their host companies – as best demonstrated by the fact that many of them have been asked to stay on for a time beyond their internship period. ?60% of the participants who were unemployed (or underemployed) before their PIP experience, found gainful employment in their fields after PIP.

For most of the interns and the host company employees, PIP has been their first opportunity to meet and to work with someone from “the other side”.?As far as I know, the experience has been terrific for all, and we’ve measured and reported on changes in attitudes as a result of the program.?Participants’ views of Israeli society and of cross-border work improved dramatically following their involvement in PIP. ?

I’d note that in addition to the 103 who completed internships, hundreds more PIP Finalists have benefited from the extensive skill-building programming and networking that PIP offers.?We’ve heard from many people about the high levels of professionalism and soft skills they see in our participants.

And the related Palestinian Mentorship Program (PMP) has matched 83 Mentees – mainly entrepreneurs and?senior people at Palestinian tech companies – with Mentors in Israel, the US, and around the globe who meet with their Mentee biweekly to help them address key business challenges by sharing their own experience, knowledge, and contacts.

I want to give special thanks to:

Our sponsors over the years, including USAID , MEPI, The Schusterman Foundation, Bader Philanthropies, Natan Fund, Yad Hanadiv , BREB, Blaustein Philanthropic Group , and a Palestinian company that asked to remain anonymous, as well as Zack Rinat & Orli Rinat and our other individual donors who have contributed to keep our programming alive;

Our 62 Israeli and multinational Host Companies, who have generously opened the doors to their companies and our dozens of Mentors who have given of their time and wisdom to help Palestinian entrepreneurs;

Folks who have generously hosted our annual “networking events” over the years – including the US Consulate in Jerusalem, the Swiss Ambassador to Israel, Microsoft , Google , and AppsFlyer ;

And last but by no means least, the excellent people who have run and built PIP/PMP over the years: Zach Fenster , Jesse Divon , and Anna Gol-Dekel , and other team members Marwan Meqbil , Ari Gore , Molly Kalat , Mohammed Atira , and Samed AlHajajla .?They’ve been supported by a committed Board of Directors:?Hani Alami , Ron Aviv , Maysa S. Baransi , Jesse Divon , Abed Nashef , and Tally Zingher (and me) and former Board member Roni Hefetz as well as Inbal Tal and Miri Greidi for their significant help on financial and admin matters.

Of course, this is also a very difficult time to advance programs that encourage Palestinian-Israeli cooperation.?But I’ve learned over the years that we can’t wait for “the right time” to try to do positive things in the Middle East.?It’s never “the right time” – which means it’s always the right time.?I believe it’s as important as ever – arguably more so – to maintain and grow programs such as PIP and PMP even in times such as these.?So we plan to keep trying.?Let us know if you’d like to be involved.

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p.s. ?I had written this over the weekend but held off posting it because of the MLK holiday in the US. In the meantime, yesterday, two terrorists from Hebron attacked the small city in which I live - Ra'anana, killing an elderly woman and injuring several other residents of the city (to whom I wish a speedy and full recovery). The two did not have permits to enter Israel legally; nonetheless, incidents such as these obviously make PIP’s work even more challenging, though no less important.