This Peace Dividend Comes Duty Free...But It's Getting Mixed Reviews

The nondescript cinder-block buildings of Century Investment Group line dust-swept streets in a largely lifeless industrial park near Jordan's border with Syria. But inside Century's six factories, more than 1,000 workers--mostly with heads covered in strict Muslim tradition--are busy churning out a quiet revolution, thanks to the Middle East peace process. "Peace has made our growth possible," says Century Chairman and CEO Omar Z. Salah.

The future for Century became rosy thanks to some fine print in legislation signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton in November, 1996, to try to jump-start the sputtering Israeli-Palestinian peace. The law allowed Palestinians--and Jordan and Egypt as well--to set up Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) that could ship goods duty-free to the U.S. The catch: Some of the product must come from Israel. Jordan--pushed by Century's Salah, since his base in the government-owned Al Hassan Industrial Estate in Irbid could fit perfectly as a QIZ--signed its own deal with Israel and the U.S. establishing the park as a QIZ during the Doha economic conference last November. U.S. conditions said a minimum 35% of content must come from Jordan and Israel or the Palestinian territories. Jordan and Israel agreed that Israel would contribute at least 11%.