The IMF chided the Palestinian Authority for running up large deficits as donor financing has declined and blamed Israeli restrictions on trade and the movement of people for further crippling the economy.
Mahmoud Darwish, who runs a taxi company in Ramallah, says Masri’s economic and political initiatives have done little to improve the lot of Palestinians.
“He can talk the big talk,” Darwish says, “but Palestinians are sick of promises and declarations when, all around us, we see occupation, poverty and corruption.”
Samir Hulileh, Padico’s chief executive officer, says Masri has put financial considerations aside in his business calculations.
After the militant Islamist group Hamas took over the Gaza Strip by force in 2007, Padico’s board met to decide whether the company would go ahead with construction of a luxury beach-side hotel, the ArcMed Al Mashtal. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and European Union for carrying out deadly attacks on Israeli civilians.
‘Losing Money’
Some board members proposed ending or freezing the project on grounds that the hotel would be a doomed business venture in Hamas-controlled territory.
“He told them, ‘We have to keep the hope alive,’” Hulileh says. “If we were to leave Gaza, what kind of message would that send? For him, Padico is an instrument of change, of growth, for Palestine.”
The hotel, which finally opened in 2011, exemplifies the precariousness of doing business in the Palestinian territories, where rival factions vie for power and the lack of final border agreements with Israel makes it hard to move goods or people.
Its first guests were 150 or so of the 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released that year in a swap with Israel for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. With its marble lobbies, five restaurants and palm-studded lawns, the hotel rarely reaches capacity.