The perils of business deals in the occupied territories aren’t limited to Gaza, Masri says.
“I don’t make money at all in Palestine,” he says. “I brought money to Palestine. Out of 34 Padico businesses, 30 are losing money because of the difficulties of doing business.”
Israeli Commandos
Masri was introduced to Palestine Liberation Organization chief Arafat in 1963 by Khalil al-Wazir, Arafat’s deputy, who was killed at his home in Tunis, Tunisia, by Israeli commandos in 1988. Masri says three of his six children actively supported the PLO during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
Masri says his grandson, also named Munib, is now in a wheelchair after Israeli soldiers shot him during a 2011 demonstration marking the anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, or catastrophe, referring to their displacement in 1948 as a result of the creation of the state of Israel. While Israel says its soldiers opened fire that day as protesters tried to cross the border, Masri says his grandson was shot in the back after taking part in a peaceful demonstration.
Slender, with blue eyes, Masri belongs to a generation of Palestinians whose parents were wealthy traders and farmers who sent their children off to attend universities from Beirut to Texas.
Today, members of his extended family control businesses throughout the Middle East, Africa and the U.S. Sabih Masri, a cousin, is chairman of Amman-based Arab Bank Plc, Jordan’s largest lender. Bashar Masri, a nephew, runs a real estate company that’s building the West Bank’s first planned city, Rawabi.
‘Hard Worker’
Masri credits his success in life to industriousness.
“I’m not a good businessman, but I’m a hard worker,” he says. “I work like a donkey.”