Gaza IT industry bypasses economic crisis

Despite the high unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip, IT freelancing and outsourcing to foreign companies is insulating the industry from the siege and economic crisis.
Employees work on computers at Exalt Technologies, a company which deals in research and development outsourcing from Cisco and French-American group Lucent-Alcatel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah April 7, 2013. Fledgling Palestinian high-tech firms hope they can now help revitalise the economy, making the West Bank more resistant to Israeli controls on land and the movement of goods and people and less dependent on fickle foreign aid flows, which are blighting the public sector. Picture taken April 7,
Employees work on computers at Exalt Technologies, a company which deals in research and development outsourcing from Cisco and French-American group Lucent-Alcatel, in Ramallah, April 7, 2013. - REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
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Hazem Balousha
@@iHaZeMi
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The recession that has prevailed in the Gaza Strip for several years has prompted IT and communication firms, most of which are run by young people, to outsource their work. This has limited the impact of the economic blockade on these firms, as opposed to other sectors.

Unit One, a company founded by two friends, Ahmad Abu Shaaban and Saadi Lazan, both 33, was one of the first to conclude contracts with firms outside Palestine, whether directly or through other intermediate companies operating in the West Bank.

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