An Impromptu Interview with Palestinian Official Suleiman Zuhairy

I met with Suleiman M. Zuhairy, deputy minister at the Palestinian Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology, the day after my meeting with Nati Schubert. I had no appointment, and literally just showed up at the door of the ministry, which is located one block away from the residence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The wall was cracking in the hallway of the ministry building, and the elevator would not move when I pressed the button for the first floor, so I took the stairs instead. There was also a ladder with paint on it sitting squarely in the reception lobby.

Before meeting with Zuhairy, I met with Kamal Hassouneh, the Minister of Telecom, who seemed to be in a solely political role. He and I spoke in English and Arabic, and I was surprised that, despite his position, he did not know the word for “tower” in English.

The real technical expert at the ministry was Zuhairy, who had worked there for more than ten years, served as Nati Schubert’s primary counterpart, and seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the issues. Zuhairy’s office included a map of British sea cable routes along the ocean floor from 1870 to 1970.

“Britain was governing all the world through these cables,” Zuhairy said. “One of the most important connections was in Yemen. The Middle East connected to London through Yemen…This is how telecommunications was started….One of the most important things to govern the whole area was with communications. This for me is what is interesting about it.”

Zuhairy dressed formally, smiled a lot, and seemed very eager to plead his case and make sure that I understood the technical details.

Though I had come unannounced, Zuhairy talked with me for more than one hour. He also gave me copies of the July 2008 contract between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority and put me in touch with officials from Tony Blair’s Quartet, whom he said were pressuring Israel to “at least implement what we already agreed upon with the Israelis.”

Throughout the interview, Zuhairy returned to the point that the Palestinian ministry was promised frequencies to allot as it saw fit. “It is not an Israeli problem how the Palestinian side will manage these frequencies,” he said. “The Israelis shouldn’t interfere between Jawwal and Wataniya. It is a Palestinian competition. We didn’t interfere…[with] any Israeli company.”

Zuhairy also rejected Schubert’s comment that the Palestinians had an internal problem that they needed to resolve before the frequencies could be released. “The only one thing they are trying to hide behind is that we have to [make a sharing arrangement] between Orange, Jawwal and Wataniya," he said. "Jawwal is a company and Wataniya is another company. [Jawwal] has the right not to share frequencies.”

An "Informal" Interview with Israeli Official Nati Schubert

At a meeting with a press officer at Wataniya, I learned of the company’s difficulty in getting its frequencies released. Intrigued, I called the Israeli Ministry of Telecommunications to arrange an interview about this issue and was referred to Nati Schubert, head of the frequency division.

Schubert’s office in the ministry’s Tel Aviv skyscraper was casual and unpretentious. Papers, plastic cups, a pile of plastic orange straws, bottles of seltzer water, knick knacks, and a calendar with puppets made by a foundation that supports the mentally challenged adorned his desk. On the wall was a colorful poster showing how airwave frequencies have been divided in Australia.

In our first meeting, which lasted about one hour, Schubert wore khaki pants, an airy blue button-down t-shirt and polished black loafers. He talked quietly and very slowly, with a heavy accent, but chose his words carefully and precisely.

“No tape recorder,” he told me, “I prefer this be more informal.” I persisted, arguing that the tape recorder will insure that I get his quotes down verbatim, but he politely declined, and I spent the remainder of the interview taking copious, rapid notes.

When I asked Schubert why Israeli companies receive far more airwave frequencies than Jawwal, he used an analogy that shows his knowledge of my home city, Chicago. “When you go from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, you have two lanes in each direction,” he said. “If you go from Chicago to O’Hare, you have maybe five or six lanes, right? You need more lanes [in Chicago] because you have more traffic.”

Schubert insistently declined all questions relating to why Wataniya had not received its frequencies. “I don’t want to get into it,” he said. “[The Palestinian Authority] have some problems. We are trying to assist them to resolve…I realize that you are trying to do your journalism job by asking the same thing with different angles, but that’s all I will tell you.”

When I asked him if officials at Paltel and Wataniya knew about these “problems,” he told me that he was not in communication with officials from Jawwal or Wataniya. “If they speak, they speak to the Palestinian Authority," he said. "I don’t know what they know."

***

A few days later, I met with Schubert again, after Palestinian officials gave me copies of the July 2008 contract between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, which set a time table for 4.8 MHz to be released to Wataniya by April 1, or June 1 at the latest.

Schubert was not pleased. “You don’t go out and provide copies to everybody without agreement from the other side," he said. "This is an agreement between the Israeli side and the Palestinian Authority….Even in the private sector, when you get an agreement between two parties, one party does not hand out the agreement.”

A Day in Hebron: An Interview with a Jawwal Salesperson

My first day investigating this story began in the West Bank city of Hebron, which has been a focal point of violent conflict between Palestinians and Israeli settlers. European peacekeeping troops patrol the border areas to prevent further bloodshed.

The old markets in the Palestinian area of Hebron are covered with fencing because Israeli settlers who live in the buildings above the markets sometimes throw rubbish and rocks at the Palestinians shopping below.

I originally imagined that my story would focus on a shopkeeper in Hebron who felt humiliated and conflicted about the necessity of selling both Jawwal phone cards and Israeli phone cards. The Israeli phone companies operate in the Palestinian Territories without permits from the Israeli government, and hence do not pay taxes or license fees to the Palestinian Authority.

Because Jawwal phones cannot get reception in much of “Area C,” which is reserved for Israeli military posts and settlements, and because Jawwal charges high rates for calls to Israel and other foreign countries, many West Bank Palestinians carry Israeli phones.

In talking with civilians and shopkeepers in Hebron, however, I found that few carried only an Israeli phone. Most carried two phones, a Jawwal phone and an Orange or Cellcom phone, and used the provider that would offer the cheapest rate based on who they were calling and where they were calling from. Carrying two phones was especially common among the international development workers and peacekeepers in the city.

Almost universally, Palestinians told me they paid too much for phone cards and that Jawwal’s service, while strong in some areas, was spotty in others.

On my second day in Hebron, I met with a Jawwal salesperson named Mahmoud Mujaheed. With typical Arab hospitality, he invited me into his home, where we sat on couches in a spotless living room adorned with his wedding pictures and Quranic calligraphy. To my surprise, Mujaheed was not upset, but excited for a new competitor to enter the cell phone market. He even had a cousin and a friend who were employed by Wataniya.

“Business is beautiful if there’s competition—better prices and service,” Mujaheed said. “The second point is that it creates new jobs.” But, he added, “Jawwal will be the best!”

On my way out the door, Mujaheed tried to give me a couch pillow in the shape of Jawwal’s logo. I declined the pillow, but asked to take a picture of him holding it—and he eagerly agreed.

Lesson for this student journalist: Don’t be surprised when your preconceptions about a story are completely dashed!

Wataniya's Failure to Launch: The Story Behind the Story

About a month ago, I returned from Israel and the West Bank, where I conducted interviews for the article I was planning about mobile phone controversies in the region. A couple of days into the trip, I stumbled on an aspect of this story that I had glossed over initially: Wataniya’s repeated delays in starting up its mobile operation.

I discovered that Wataniya had not received its airwave frequencies from the Israeli government, despite a contract brokered with the help of Tony Blair that seemed to state clearly that the company would receive these frequencies in increments, starting in January, 2009.

I also learned that much of Wataniya’s crucial equipment remained stuck in customs, which was also delaying the company’s launch and costing it millions of dollars, according to the company.

This “failure to launch” quickly became the new subject of my story and Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, became my target publication. On Thursday, July 2 this article, entitled “Palestinians still waiting for better cell phone service, but is it Israel's fault?” was published in the Marker, a Hebrew magazine of Haaretz. The English version of the article is now available online.

Prior to my arrival, I had arranged an interview with Abdel Malik Jaber, the outgoing CEO of Paltel Group. I doubted many other high-level officials would be willing to meet with a student journalist, and I planned to focus my story on civilians and mobile phone shopkeepers who were more likely to speak with me.

However, I found that by literally knocking on the doors of ministries and companies and by asking other journalists for the mobile numbers of important officials, I was able to gain access to a number of important players in this controversy, including three CEOs and two high-level ministry officials in Israel and Palestine.

I also found that my American citizenship and Arabic proficiency was a competitive advantage. Unlike Israeli or Palestinian journalists, I could travel freely between Israel and Palestine and gain a certain level of trust and respect in both places. My status as an American freelancer traveling to the region solely to write this story also seemed to make people think I was more knowledgeable, experienced and important than in fact I was.

This was the first truly investigative article that I’ve pursued, and it proved to be an exhilarating adventure. I think it’s an important story, particularly because of its impact on Palestinian civilians seeking quality, low-cost phone service, dependable employment and a more prosperous future for their families.

I will post portions of my interviews here, as well as details and background information that could not appear in the Haaretz article due to space constraints. I’d also be thrilled to answer any questions from readers.

Interview with Israeli Telecom Reporter Amitai Ziv

I recently spoke by phone with Amitai Ziv, who is the telecom correspondent for The Marker, an Israeli newspaper. We discussed a May 2008 article he wrote about Paltel and Abdel Malik Jaber, Paltel’s former CEO. Recently, Jaber agreed to step down as part of Paltel’s acquisition by Zain, and his successor has yet to be named. Ziv knew little about the acquisition, but had much to say about his one-hour interview with Jaber at the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem last May.

Ziv held Jaber in high regard. “[Jaber] is a businessman,” Ziv said. “He knows what he wants. He wasn’t afraid to speak about the occupation. He doesn’t apologize for being Palestinian or bypass all those issues. He just speaks about them. It’s impressive.”

In Ziv’s article for The Marker, he quoted Jaber as saying: “It’s no wonder that the first Palestinian Venture Capital fund is headed by an Israeli.” I asked Ziv what Jaber may have meant by this. “Israel is a very innovative country,” Ziv said. “There are so many innovations. We are known for our start-ups. I’ve met many here in this year that I’ve been working [at The Marker] and I still have 400 more to meet…Israel is really known for that. I think that’s what he meant. …I think he was [complimenting Israelis for being entrepreneurial].”

I find it interesting and impressive that Jaber is able to praise the drive for innovation in Israeli society, despite the struggles he has experienced as a result of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories.

Ziv also respected Jaber’s honesty and objectivity and came away from the interview with sympathy for Jaber’s difficult role. “[The Palestinian Territories] are such a small piece of land, so it’s so weird that [Jaber] can’t have his own antennas,” Ziv said. “It’s also the only company in the world, I think, that has its switch not inside the territories—[the switch] is in London. Israel won’t let [Jaber] bring it to here. Every phone conversation inside the Palestinian Territories is going through London.”

Ziv commented that Wataniya will likely face an uphill struggle. “I think it’s going to be a real nightmare for any new company in the Palestinian Territories to build new sites, to get permits from the Israeli occupation,” he said. “Maybe that’s why [Wataniya has had so many delays].”

Finally, Ziv said that the four Israeli telecom companies operating in the Palestinian Territories may not be eager to speak about the issue. “They prefer to do business, to be quiet, to not make a big declaration about are we right or wrong,” he said. “I think they would say that they are giving good services to 200,000 settlers over there in the West Bank…They will also say that, if a Palestinian chooses to buy a prepaid card to talk via Israeli companies, rather than via a Palestinian company, they have a right to do that."

Top Six Reasons to Follow Mobile Phone News in Palestine

I'll be using this space to explore recent mobile phone developments in Palestine, in advance of a trip to the West Bank in early June. During this trip, I will interview analysts, customers and executives involved in the Palestinian mobile phone industry as part of a feature magazine article. Thanks, Shukran, and Tuda for your interest!

A little background about this issue: As in most developing countries, mobile phones are far more common than landlines in Palestine and cellular customers typically pay for their calls in advance, via phone cards. Paltel is currently the only Palestinian provider of mobile service. From 1996 to 2006, Paltel had an exclusive License Agreement with the Palestinian National Authority to develop the telecom sector. It is a publicly-traded company and its cellular subsidiary, Jawwal, serves about 1.1 million customers.

This is a fascinating time to be following mobile phone developments in Palestine. Here's why:

1) Gaza Reconstruction: In a Jan. 4 press release during the Gaza War, Paltel reported that “90 percent of the mobile service network is down, in addition to a huge number of fixed lines which are out of order, either due to direct damage or because of the loss of electricity.” I will use this blog, in part, to explore how the company is recovering from the Gaza war.

2) An Upcoming Acquisition: Paltel is in the process of being acquired by Zain, a multi-national telecommunications company that operates in six countries in the Middle East. If the acquisition succeeds, Paltel would likely be renamed Zain Paltel or Zain Palestine. For reasons that are not entirely clear, former CEO of Paltel, Abdel Malik Jaber stepped down, and Paltel’s chairman, Subaih Al Masry, is conducting the negotiations.

3) Arab-Israeli Leadership: The previous CEO of Paltel, Abdel Malik Jaber, was an Arab Israeli citizen—an interesting choice, given the sensitivity of the tumultuous political situation in the region. Jaber speaks Arabic and Hebrew and resides in both Jerusalem and Ramallah. As CEO, he negotiated contracts with Israelis, the Palestinian Authority and westerners and focused on business over politics. I found little information online about the new chairman and it may be interesting to compare his personality and background to Jaber’s.

4) New Competition: A challenge to Paltel’s monopoly on phone service has been posed by a new competitor, Wataniya. The Palestinian Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology awarded a license to Wataniya in 2006. On Feb. 5 of this year, Wataniya secured an $85 million loan from the private sector to create a new infrastructure for mobile phone service within Palestine. After multiple delays, Wataniya hopes to begin operations early this year, according to an article in Telecom Finance.

5) Unpermitted Israeli Phone Usage: Four Israeli telecom providers that operate without permits in the Palestinian Territories reach most of the West Bank. While the exact number is in dispute, it is generally agreed that many Palestinians are using Israeli phones. Paltel estimates that Israeli providers capture 20 percent of the Palestinian mobile phone market. In November of 2007, World Bank researchers took photos of Israeli phone cards being sold in the West Bank.

6) Tower Prohibitions Around Israeli Settlements: Some areas of the Palestinian Territories have better reception from the Israeli operators than from Paltel, because Paltel is not allowed to set antennas in West Bank areas controlled by Israel. This area, known as “Area C,” contains military locations and / or Israeli settlements, which some consider illegal under international law. Israeli leaders argue that Israeli cellular operation is legal in Area C, due to security needs.

These and other issues will be the subject of this blog. I will conduct phone interviews with various Middle East sources and scour the internet for new developments. Please do submit feedback and comments, as well as suggestions for potential sources and story angles.

Shalom, Salaam, Peace,

Ashley