Liberty native is at the helm

The businessman says creating jobs, not throwing stones, is the best way to protest Israeli occupation.
By JOHN SKENDALL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Sam S. Bahour, born and reared in the Youngstown area, just opened a shopping plaza selling Nike shoes and clothing. The wares are much like what might be found at Southern Park Mall.
The mall has a grocery store that looks a lot like the store his father used to own, now called University Red and White on Elm Street on Youngstown's North Side.
The two-story mall's architectural plan was designed here at Store Systems & amp; Services Inc. on Myrtle Avenue.
What makes the new $10.2 million shopping plaza unique is that the Youngstown State University grad built the modern strip mall complx in Israel, in the middle of occupied territory -- the West Bank.
Bahour is a second-generation Palestinian. He, his wife and his two daughters live in Al-Bireh, a city Bahour said compares in size to Youngstown.
Mall manager
Bahour is general manager of a newly built modern shopping center In Ramallah, a city about 10 miles north of Jerusalem.
Surrounding the mall are buildings that stand empty and crumbling -- bombed out from raids by Israeli planes, he said.
Guards are stationed at checkpoints at every entrance to the city. Israeli tanks roam the streets.
Amid the conflict, Bahour's Plaza stands tall.
As waves of shoppers have come to enjoy the shiny American mall experience -- and for a moment forget about their war-torn environment -- Bahour believes his mall is a success.
But he admits he took "high financial risk" in building the mall, which took five long years -- not two, as was originally planned -- to complete.
"I view this as part of my role as ridding ourselves of Israeli occupation," Bahour said this week in a phone interview.
Bahour said it is better to protest by making jobs and building up business than by throwing stones at tanks.
He said the new shopping center, which contains a go-cart track, video games (without guns), the West Bank's largest supermarket and 45 retail tenants, sends a message that progress is possible.
The mall employs about 140 people.
"The real challenge is to be able to create economic opportunities," Bahour said.
Bahour, 38, is general manager at the new mall in Al-Bireh that opened in June. His company, Arab-Palestinian Shopping Centers P.L.C., plans to open a chain of five shopping centers in the West Bank.
World attention
The large, conspicuously modern plaza shopping center sells American- and local-style products at prices lower than in surrounding businesses. Bahour's unique venture has caught the interest of The Washington Post and several news organizations abroad.
Bahour lives in the West Bank with a "tourist visa" that he said must be renewed every three months by traveling back to the United States.
Bahour grew up on Biscayne Avenue, near Forum Health Northside Medical Center in Liberty Township. He graduated from Liberty High School in 1982.
Bahour earned a computer technology degree from Youngstown State University and moved to the West Bank in 1995 to help set up a Palestinian telecommunications company.