When Salah Hussein was just 11 years old, he says Israeli soldiers stormed his family home in Nablus in the West Bank in the middle of the night, an experience that left him deeply traumatised for years.
It was “triggering” for him to see anyone in uniform, he recalled, adding: “For me, all of them were a threat.”
Now 33, Hussein has taken a very different path, building a business alongside an Israeli Jewish co-founder as part of a cross-border entrepreneurship initiative.
Hussein is among about 35 participants in a programme known as 50:50 Startups, which brings together Palestinian, Israeli Arab and Israeli Jewish founders. Over six months, they work in mixed teams through workshops, mentoring sessions and training, before pitching to investors in Boston.
Despite the business focus, the collaboration carries emotional and political weight, especially given the ongoing regional tensions. While most startups face high failure rates, Hussein says his motivation goes beyond profit.
“If we are not the ones looking for change, who will be? We are the right people at the right place, at the right time. We have to move on,” he said. “I don’t want my kids to be living in a world full of hatred.”
His Israeli co-founder, molecular biologist Yana Shaulov, said she joined the initiative hoping to build something meaningful, eventually teaming up with Hussein’s group.
“It’s not always easy, you can feel the tension sometimes, but [Israelis and Palestinians] are both here to stay, and we have to live together at the end of the day,” she said. “It’s already worth it just to show other people that it’s possible.”
The startup team also includes two others — a Palestinian from the West Bank and an Israeli Christian woman. Their venture, Qanara Tech, focuses on developing AI-powered cameras designed to detect and prevent insect infestations in greenhouses.
Other teams in the programme are working on innovations ranging from improved heart monitors to water purification systems using egg shells and plant seeds.
However, not all collaborations survive. Hussein said a previous venture collapsed after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack and the ensuing war, as political tensions and external pressure made cooperation increasingly difficult.
“Sometimes even thinking about what I’m doing right now fills me with some negative [voices], like, ‘Salah, you’re a normaliser. Be careful!’,” he said. But he added another internal push keeps him going: “Keep going, Keep moving! All these tiny effects can lead to change.”
Israeli participant Aviv Meir also acknowledged the emotional difficulty of cross-conflict collaboration.
“It’s hard to put yourself in the enemy’s shoes,” she said. “You need to have so much strength to feel safe, and to understand that understanding their side will not demolish your side. It’s sometimes making you crazy.”
Another participant, Palestinian entrepreneur Salah Elsadi, said he initially joined for business reasons rather than peace-building, but later found himself confronting deeply personal conversations.
At one event in Boston, Elsadi spoke with French-Israeli participant Sarah Blum, who revealed she had previously survived a knife attack by a Palestinian man. The exchange quickly turned emotional as both shared painful personal experiences from the conflict.
Elsadi said he spoke about hardship in Gaza, while Blum reflected on trauma from Israeli families affected by violence, with both acknowledging the weight of suffering on each side.
Despite the tension, the conversation ended on a hopeful note.
“We need to start a new thing, not just to remember the last things which remind us that ’Oh, I need to take revenge,” Elsadi said. “We cannot continue war, war, war, war. How long do we want it to continue?”
Program founder Amir Grinstein explained that 50:50 Startups is not designed as a political dialogue initiative but as a business accelerator where trust develops naturally through collaboration.
“It’s very intimate, it’s very intense, it’s up and down like a roller coaster, and it’s long term,” he said. “They have to try hard to work together. They’ll fail together or they’ll succeed together.”
Grinstein added that the programme has had to adapt to global disruptions, including COVID-19 and ongoing conflicts, with many participants joining remotely due to instability.
Still, he believes the shared experience builds deeper connections than traditional peace programmes.
“The elephant is obviously in the room, so we’re not ignoring it,” he said. “But what I want is to see the Israelis and Palestinians develop friendships that transcend the business.”
Students involved in the programme say their perspectives have also shifted after interacting closely with the entrepreneurs, noting how personal relationships challenged long-held assumptions.
Investors watching the pitches say they see both risk and opportunity in such collaborations, with some suggesting that teams built across divides may demonstrate stronger resilience.
“My hippie heart loves this kind of collaboration. My capitalist brain insists it makes business sense,” said investor Brian Abrams.
So far, organisers say dozens of startups have emerged from the programme, with many still active despite the difficult environment, suggesting that cooperation, even in conflict, can survive against the odds.
