创业合作缔造中东和平

    赎罪日是犹太历法中最神圣的一天，是一个反躬自省、与心灵对话的日子。逾越节之前几天，我与十位巴勒斯坦科技公司首席执行官一起度过，共同探讨创业精神。会谈快结束时，他们邀请我与巴勒斯坦总统阿巴斯会面，就如何打造一个繁荣兴旺的信息科技行业提供建议（巴勒斯坦的IT业目前已有约300家公司，雇有3,500名员工）。这一切是如何发生的呢？

    一切都开始于几个月以前，当时马萨诸塞州州长德瓦尔•帕特里克率贸易代表团出访以色列，会见了多位以色列企业家，试图让他们与马萨诸塞州企业缔结更紧密的商业合作，带来更多商机。他在以色列期间还会见了部分巴勒斯坦企业家，邀请他们来到波士顿，与当地企业建立更密切的关系。上周，这些企业家接受了他的邀请。

    实话说，当我受邀向巴勒斯坦代表团发表讲话时，我有些犹豫。你得知道，我的父亲是个大屠杀幸存者，在特拉维夫上的高中；我的孩子们就读犹太日校，学习希伯来语，他们和我一样，从小就被培养成为坚定的犹太复国主义者；我向美国以色列公共事务委员会（AIPAC）捐赠，还支持本地的犹太协会——联合犹太慈善总会（CJP）。尽管我强烈支持巴以分治的方案，我担心反犹主义在中东仍然十分猖獗，对以色列和犹太人的妖魔化又出现了新的高潮，令人担忧。因此，接受这一邀请前我扪心自问：巴勒斯坦信息科技产业的强大是否有利于中东和平？如果下一个Skype或LogMeIn的缔造者家住巴勒斯坦拉姆安拉，而不是瑞士或匈牙利，会是一件好事吗？

    我的结论是：100%有利。与巴勒斯坦首席执行官代表团会面后，我敢说：200%有利。

    托马斯•弗里德曼最近曾说过，对抗贫困的最有效武器是创业精神。我觉得，创业精神同样是缔造和平的一剂良药。如果以色列人和巴勒斯坦人忙于进行商业合作，为两国人民创造就业机会和财富，将会显著缓解失业以及机会缺乏带来的紧张情绪。

    这群巴勒斯坦企业家让我极为惊喜——与本民族的许多人相比，他们反倒与波士顿、硅谷和纽约市的企业家拥有更多的共同点。他们简直就像是《科技之星》（Techstars）节目里走出来的真人秀明星——聪明、生气勃勃、雄心万丈，而且渴望成功。他们讲述了自己的创业经历，介绍了各自公司的历程，我听得饶有趣味。（我还略带失望地与代表团中唯一的女性——见上图——开玩笑说，他们的男/女企业家比例与马萨诸塞州差不多。）

    美国国际开发署（USAID）的一位专员陪伴代表团一起来访，他被派驻在中东地区，帮助当地充满创业精神的企业实现更大的商业发展。我还找到了一位出生于拉姆安拉的哈佛商学院（Harvard Business School）毕业生，让他加入我们的活动。【我们活动的举办地就在哈佛新设的创新实验室（Harvard's new Innovation Lab），那是个非常出色的地方。】去年夏季，他曾为一家名为Padico的巴勒斯坦风投公司效力，到处寻找投资机会。

    谁知道中东和平谈判能产生什么样的结果呢？不过，如果这十位企业家能作为某种参考，那中东和平仍然有希望，而实现的途径则是通过创业精神铸就共同繁荣。至少赎罪日那天，我会在犹太会堂为此祈祷！最近，以色列与哈马斯达成协议，释放大批囚犯换取吉拉德•沙利特的自由，或许我们离上述目标又近了一步。

    杰夫•博斯甘是风投公司飞桥资本合伙（Flybridge Capital Partners）的普通合伙人，他的Twitter账号是@bussgang。

    译者：小宇

    A few days before Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in the Jewish calendar and a spiritual day of remembrance, I found myself in front of ten Palestinian tech CEOs talking about entrepreneurship. At the end of the session, they invited me to meet with Palestinian President Abbas to advise him on how to build a thriving IT sector (which now employs 3,500 across 300 companies). How did this juxtaposition come about?

    It all began a few months ago, when Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick visited Israel on a trade mission. He met with numerous Israeli entrepreneurs to foster greater business partnerships and opportunities with Massachusetts businesses. While there, he also met with a few Palestinian entrepreneurs and invited them to come to Boston to establish closer relationships with local businesses. Last week, they took him up on this offer.

    Honestly, when I was invited to speak to the Palestinian delegation, I paused. You see, my father is a Holocaust survivor and finished high school in Tel Aviv. My kids attend a Jewish day school, study Hebrew, and are being raised, like I was, as ardent Zionists. I donate money to AIPAC as well as our local Jewish federation (CJP). Although I strongly support a two-state solution, I worry that anti-Semitism remains rampant in the Middle East and that the demonization of Israel and Jews is at an alarming high. And so the question I asked myself before accepting the invitation was: Would a strong Palestinian IT sector be a good thing for peace in the Middle East? What if the next Skype or LogMeIn was started by a Ramallah-based entrepreneur instead of a Swede or Hungarian, respectively - would that be a good thing?

    My conclusion: 100% yes. And after meeting with the Palestinian CEO delegation, I would say 200% yes.

    Thomas Friedman said recently that the surest cure to poverty was entrepreneurship. I would say the same regarding peace. If the Israelis and Palestinians are busy cooperating commercially, creating jobs and wealth for both sides, it will meaningfully reduce the tension that unemployment and a lack of opportunity for young and old represent.

    I was blown away by the group of Palestinian entrepreneurs – they had more in common with entrepreneurs in Boston, Silicon Valley and NYC than probably many of their own people. They could have stepped right out of Techstars central casting – smart, scrappy, ambitious, hungry. I enjoyed hearing their stories of their entrepreneurial journeys to create their companies. (I joked with some chagrin with the one female in the delegation – pictured above – that their male/female entrepreneurial ratio matched our own).

    Traveling with the delegation was a USAID executive who is assigned to the region to foster more business development with entrepreneurial companies. I was able to enlist a Ramallah-born Harvard Business School student (we hosted the event at Harvard's new Innovation Lab, which is spectacular), to join us. He worked at a Palestinian venture capital firm last summer, called Padico, scouting opportunities for investment.

    Who knows what will happen with the peace talks, but if these ten entrepreneurs are any indication, there's hope yet for peace in the Mniddle East through posterity and entrepreneurship. At least that's what I was praying for in synagogue during Yom Kippur! With the recent news of the release of Gilad Shalit, perhaps we are a step closer.

    Jeff Bussgang is general partner at venture capital firm Flybridge Capital Partners. You can follow him on Twitter @bussgang