Palestinians in the Gaza Strip will see the economic benefits to peace — in the form of a sprawling business center.
In less than two months, the Marriott Crop., in conjunction with the General Resources Design Group, plans to begin building a 275-room hotel complete with 10,000 square feet of leasable office space, three restaurants, a swimming pool and mega-business center, according to Marriott officials.
“This will be a landing pad for business to come to Gaza,” said Ziad Karram, president and CEO of the design group, which is based in Fairfax, Va.
Located less than one mile north of Gaza City, the $80 million beachfront Gaza Marriott Business Center will bring 1,000 jobs to Gaza during two years of construction, said Karram, a Palestinian American.
The project, a brainchild of builders for Peace, is scheduled to be completed by early 1997.
Builders for peace was founded after Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the Declaration of Principles in September 1993 to encourage Arab and Jewish.
Culligan International Corp., owned by Astrum International, will build the infrastructure. Steven Green, the chief executive of Astrum, is one of the founding Jewish members of Builders.
Once operational, planners expect to hire 350 permanent workers for the facility and another 1,750 for support jobs in the area, Karram said.
He and Marriott representatives were scheduled to announce the project after meeting with Vice President Al Gore in Jericho on Friday.
The Overseas Private Investment Corp., a federal agency that provides investment incentives abroad, is on the verge of announcing $50 million in loan guarantees for the project, U.S. officials said.
In meetings with Builders for Peace during his visit to Washington last week, King Hassan II of Morocco pledged financial support for the project, according to Karram.
“Money is not an issue,” Karram said of Morocco’s support. “It’s so important that an Arab country is part of the project and working together to be part of the new vision.”
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