This week Palestine Report Online interviews Lily Habash, head of the Palestinian Authority's Joint Economic Committee Technical Support Unit, based in Ramallah. At last week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, she was named one of the 100 Global Leaders of Tomorrow, an honor bestowed on those under age 41 most likely to influence the global economy in 2000.

PR: What happened in Davos that you found most interesting?

Habash: I think that the special thing about this conference was that this was the first big conference at the beginning of the new millenium. The type of people that attended the conference were very influential people in terms of the global economy. You could walk the corridors and see [Jordan's] King Abdullah and [US Secretary of State] Madeleine Albright.

I think that what we really need to concentrate on is the role that this forum has in the world economy. I don't think that even the United Nations can gather all these economists and investors, which is quite impressive.

I was not allowed to attend the conference from the very beginning, because I was not a part of the official delegation, even though I was part of the technical support team to assist Mr. Muhammad Rasheed.

As a global leader for tomorrow, we were only allowed to attend the last two days. My first debate was between Steven Case and Bill Gates, which was really funny because you know how much these people effect business in terms of software and the internet.

I think that the internet revolution is amazing, and there is a great fear that it will decrease the gap between the haves and have-nots in the world. I think that a lot of people will not be able to catch up. It is not like the agricultural or industrial revolution. This goes back to education and environment. If you look at most of the developing world and a lot of places in the developed world, a lot of people cannot really use the internet and the PC. It is a completely foreign language to them. It has to be revolutionized in the countries themselves. It is a luxurious business, but on the other side, it is a necessity. You have to join the club, otherwise you will not be able to compete.

This worried me. I am not an expert in information technology or investment, and I think that there is a good potential for Palestine to catch up. But I strongly believe that the Palestinian Authority and the private sector must decide on a very strong policy. They have to decide about it now. I don't think that this can really wait until we have other developmental projects. We have to do it now in parallel with other technical projects.

PR: Is there the potential for that? Or do you think there are too many other things to worry about?

Habash: I think that there is a strong potential. I think that the quality of trained people is quite high and there is always the potential to shape and reshape people's training. This is something I am sure of, even though I have heard a lot of complaints - again I am not an expert - from graduates of the local universities in information technology and computer science that they are not getting the adequate training.

I think that the problem is that - and I hope that I am not hurting any person or university - this kind of technology needs to be updated constantly. You can't ignore all the latest developments or you will be totally lost. There is a huge competition in the world in this field.

If you look at Israel, now it is exporting information technology in more than 50 percent of its exports. Israel is very highly technologically advanced.

PR: Were you surprised when you were recognized in this way?

Habash: I was shocked. This is a committee that has been going on for the last 30 years at the World Economic Forum. I think that 80 percent of the people that they selected this year were in information technology; they were CEOs. The rest were politicians, people who work in civil society and health. Each one of us had to stand up and say what was the most important feature in his or her life. Most people said that it was their company, their success, their family. They were under 41 years old, and most of them were chief executive officers. One that I met was 30 years old and launched the entire Yahoo! network in South America, so now he has exclusivity for the whole continent.

My only message was that I would like to use this forum to promote my country's economy and also to remind people that there is a lot of injustice happening in this part of the world at the beginning of a new millenium. We still find people being held against their will and not given their rights as human beings.

Most of [the honorees] were pushed, which I think is great. In my country we have to try to adopt people who can be creative. If you have people who are creative and innovative and they don't find the right environment, it will be a great loss.

I am not going to make a political sermon, but it is true that we need to have our own borders and economy and political life, and I am sure that if this happens there will be a great liberation of the soul and spirit of innovative people. If you can move freely within your country and in and out of your country, then you can develop a lot of contacts. You can learn a lot and open a lot of horizons as a person.

I know that in the Palestinian National Authority there are a lot of very, very devoted people who are working very hard to promote Palestine and the Palestinian economy. They are really good, strong people. But this is not enough, we need free borders and a free economy.

PR: How do you stay positive?

Habash: I am now currently very tired because I am following up a lot of studies with my work. I recently finished a master's degree program in Birzeit, and even before I finished that, I started an executive master's program in Tel Aviv University with Northwestern University.

There really is no other choice. You have to keep on going and you have to keep updated on all the latest issues in business and economy and civil life as the means of working in a collective and also for your own country.

I started working in this technical support unit three years ago. There was the realization within the Palestinian Authority that there should be an office to deal with following up the economic negotiations with Israel. The main objective is to institutionalize the whole process and to make a system to monitor and follow up on whatever is being agreed upon and not being agreed upon, to train some people to deal with these issues, not only in the negotiations, but administratively and substance-wise, and to research a subject under discussion. This is what I do on a daily basis.

On the other hand, I also help with the team that is working with the permanent status negotiations. I am also a very big supporter of a very important NGO called PYALARA, that is basically concerned with educating young Palestinians to become good ambassadors for Palestine, in their history and in their rights as young people.

PR: Is there reason to be hopeful in the negotiations?

Habash: I think it is very tough. There is a strong intransigence from the Israeli side. This is my personal feeling, that they do not want to give away a lot of things, which is a pity, because without a just and real solution for the Palestinians, there will never, never be a just and real peace in the whole region. Nor will there be sustainable development nor a sustainable peace. Opportunities should be equal and the borders should be open for everybody to travel. They should recognize Palestinian laws, and the Palestinian people as equal to them. I think that Israel should stop believing that they are doing us a favor. It is not a favor. What we are asking is for our rights.