Jewish and Arab entrepreneurs take part in Jerusalem’s first Hackathon for peace

The first Jewish-Arab-Jerusalem Hackathon took place this week to discuss their innovative projects to benefit Jerusalem.

The new initiative saw twenty Jewish and Arab entrepreneurs gather at Margalit Startup City, the home for startups, while following coronavirus regulations, to discuss their innovative projects for the city.

“People think of Jerusalem as a city which is just fought over, but we are proving that it is a city of creativity”, said Jerusalem Venture Partners founder and chairman of Margalit Startup City, Erel Margalit.

Yonatan Arnon, one of the organisers of the meeting, expressed his excitement at the Hackathon: “We have a vision, to build an innovative, integrated platform of Jerusalemites from all sectors. This is the beginning of a vision and building bridges. In the days when virtual reality covers everything – we create reality.”

Another organiser, Adnan Jaber, added: This meeting is a dream come true. I have been in a lot of peace programs, but never in Jerusalem. Let’s learn together and succeed together. Diversity will win out.”

The meeting opened with pitches where each entrepreneur presented their project. One idea discussed was using technology to ensure healthy eating, where one waiter said they had been shocked by the levels of food waste in restaurants, adding the need for an app that locates and distributes surplus food to the needy.

After presenting their projects, developers broke off into working groups to build the models together and solve the technological problems in each person’s idea. The ideas were then presented to judges who gave constructive comments.

The organisers are now working to build on their first meeting and embark on a series of meetings and collaborations for the future.