Emad Jaber and an engineer at the Mall of Palestine construction site in Ramallah. (Photo courtesy of LACASA Holdings) 

RAMALLAH, February 15, 2018 (WAFA) – Palestine is scheduled to have its first world-standard, state of the art shopping mall in the first quarter of 2019, according to the developers.

Emad Jaber, born and raised in the Palestinian village of Turmous Ayya, north of Ramallah, announced in a press statement that work is underway on the $40 million Mall of Palestine that will be built in Ramallah on a 60,000 square meter plot.

Jaber is chairman of the board of the Dubai-based LACASA Holdings, which is the company building the mall and its owner.

“Our success in our homeland is not only a personal investment success, rather it is much more than that; it is the success of our people in building on their land despite the occupation,” he said. “It is also a message to all expatriate businessmen and our Arab brothers that Palestine is a fertile ground for investment projects. With our work and presence, we do away with the two prevailing ideas that the political and security situation at home prevents any opportunities for investment, or that the market cannot handle such projects.”

“Investing in my homeland Palestine is one of my top priorities and interests,” he added. “I started investing here in 2007 with small family business and then my investment expanded to include distinguished apartment projects. Currently we are building the largest commercial project, which is Mall of Palestine, considered one of the largest company projects in the Middle East."

Mall of Palestine is going to be one of the largest and most luxurious shopping malls in the Middle East when it opens in the first quarter of next year in Ramallah on an area of more than 60,000 square meters. It will include 130 retail stores, five large world-known department stores, a hypermarket, fast food restaurants, a food court and a children’s play area in addition to other facilities.

Jaber said he decided to name the shopping center as Mall of Palestine because “we pride ourselves with the name of our homeland, Palestine, and its history, culture and civilization, and therefore we could not find a more beautiful name to use for this huge national commercial edifice than the name of our homeland."

He believes that investment in Palestine is centered on three factors: "The first is the importance of passing on the experience I gained during my presence in Dubai to my homeland Palestine and bring with it new ideas that raise its architectural level. The second is investment in spite of all what Palestine is going through, yet its market is promising and can accommodate large-scale investments."

The third, he said, “is to provide job opportunities for many Palestinians since the mall is expected to provide around 5000 indirect job opportunities for those who will work in the mall during the construction stage and 1200 other permanent jobs when it opens.”

 Emad Jaber, chairman of the board of LACASA Holdings, builder and owner of Mall of Palestine. (Photo courtesy of LACASA Holdings)

Jaber was born in 1961 in Turmous Ayya. He studied in its schools and graduated in 1979. He completed his education at Yarmouk University in Jordan, specializing in engineering and graduated in 1984 after which he moved to work in Dubai, where he began his career as an engineer before opening up his own engineering office in 2006 that eventually became LACASA Holdings.

The company currently has more than 350 engineers working in several branches around the Middle East and North Africa, including Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It plans to soon open branches in Syria, Libya, Sudan and Tunisia, says Jaber.

M.K.