Yahya Shunnar
The Portland Trust: COVID-19, the PA, and Israel - Impact Responses and Cooperation
Summary
The Portland Trust is a British nonprofit whose mission is to promote peace and stability between Israelis and Palestinians through economic development. This lecture explores the COVID-19 impact, economic impact, and socioeconomic impact on the Palestinian economy and the Palestinians, as well as the cooperation with Israel on the COVID-19 responses.
Yahya Shunnar
Yahya Shunnar is the managing director of the Portland Trust in Ramallah. He has held various management positions in the public and private sectors, including chief investment officer of Ibdar Investment Bank in the Kingdom of Bahrain, head of investment at Capivest Investment Bank in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the chief marketing officer at Nassar Group in Palestine, Jordan, Oman, and UAE, executive director of Nassar Stone Dubai, assistant general manager of the Palestine Securities Exchange, and investment director at PADICO. In 2003, he worked as director general of the Cabinet Secretariat, Palestinian government. He is the founder of YJS Strategy & Business Consulting in the Kingdom of Bahrain. He holds an MBA from the University of Arkansas, USA, and a BA in business administration and economics from Yarmouk University in Jordan.
Douglas Krikler
Douglas Krikler joined the Portland Trust as CEO in October 2018, bringing with him nearly 30 years’ leadership experience in both the nonprofit and commercial sectors. Most recently, Doug spent six years as group development director and advisor to the Global MD of Investec Bank PLC, working with private, corporate and institutional clients of the international specialist bank. From 2005–2012 Doug was CEO of the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA). From 2010–2012 he was the founding co-chairman of the UK Task Force on Arab Citizens of Israel and from 2000-2005 he was executive director of the Community Security Trust (CST). From 1992–2000, he was the founding executive director of the Maimonides Foundation, promoting cooperation between Muslims and Jews in the UK and Middle East. Doug has a master’s degree in Middle East area studies from the London University School of Oriental and African Studies and a degree in Modern Arabic studies from the University of Leeds. He spent a year at Ain Shams University in Cairo and speaks Arabic, Hebrew, and French.
Yeah, I guess, a good story is the early alarm by the Israeli government to the Palestinian government on the multiple cases that they have found out, and they have tested earlier and they have sent the warning to the PA so the PA could take the necessary measures on the checkpoints when they received the workers. They have also facilitated paying the dues of the collection on behalf of the PA. The settlement reviews of 800 million that was requested as a special request by the Minister of Finance to the minister, to the Israeli Minister of Finance, in order to meet the high demand since there’s no tax collection in Palestine during the lockdown.
We have been working since 2006 closely with the PA, whether the Prime Minister office or the present office or the respective ministries, and they have been always supportive to what Portland Trust’s scope of work is all about and they have extended all the facilities and services needed. We never came across any problems when it comes to corruptions in the PA or the private sector.
Look, it’s a good question and obviously we’ll have to see how things pan out but what I would say is that our approach at the Portland Trust has very much been about a private sector-led economic development programme. We recognise that that has been and remains in partnership with other agencies, including international donors, but our real objective is to try to get to a situation where that reliance on international donor aid is significantly reduced. And that’s why we believe that the interventions like the one we’re trying to drive now and to catalyse around the IT sector are so important.