The Dreamer

Born in 1963 into what was only half-jokingly known as a “mixed marriage,” David was – almost – the right man at the right time. Long before the term “impact investment” was ever coined, David dreamed up a revolutionary idea to collect private and public investments and provide seed funding for businesses jointly run by Arabs and Jews. Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin was on board. So was Palestinian leader Faisel Husseini. And they were not alone: François Mitterrand, Henry Kissinger, Abdullah Nimar Darwish and many other public intellectuals, diplomats, politicians and business tycoons were all enthusiastic supporters of David’s innovative “Shem Fund.”

David was on his way to become a household name, the father of the world’s first peace fund, a conflict resolution guru.

But none of that happened.

Nowadays, David and his wife Tali live in Har Amasa, at the edge of the desert and just south of the West Bank. But he isn’t bitter, nor does his story end in defeat. After all, what kind of a prophet would he be if he just gave up?

If governments didn’t believe that peace would come through grassroots business partnerships, David would turn his own life into a proof-of-concept of his now defunct multi-billion dollar dream.

Skyler Inman has been interviewing David for over a year. She has heard him talk about a joint Semitic identity, about linguistic affinities, about the distant past and the far-away future. But most of all, she has heard why this veteran visionary is still unwaveringly hopeful.

And, if you want to check out David’s various products and projects (including a dreamer’s sublime tchina, or tahini), go to the Shem Rivers website.