Will the Palestinian tech sector decouple from Israel?
Al Jazeera
Palestinian tech companies and workers have relied on the outsourcing of work from Israel, but many contracts have been torn up following October 7.
Ramallah, occupied West Bank – In early March, a Uruguayan e-commerce company sent Marwan Khanfar and others a message on Slack. “Good morning [company] team, I hope you have had an amazing weekend,” the message began.
“Unfortunately, due to concerns regarding political stability and compliance with legal regulations,” it continued, “it will not be possible to directly hire employees residing in Palestine from now on.”
The company said the only exceptions would be made for “temporary consultants” providing their services through a third party, though the 10 percent fees the third party charges would not be covered.
In this instance at least, Khanfar managed to keep his own personal services under contract. However, a tech outsourcing company that he is the founder and CEO of, Corals, lost out on additional employment that had been discussed — only the latest contract his company had missed out on since the war in Gaza began in October.
Corals lost three contracts that month, comprising almost 60 percent of the revenue it previously generated. Khanfar estimates he has lost approximately $15,000 each month – a significant blow to his small business employing 12 people.
