He is an unlikely man in a most unlikely setting, but Munib Rashid Masri, who, 10 years ago in the middle of a violent intifada, built a palatial mansion on the top of Mount Gerizim overlooking this Palestinian city, deserves much of the credit for the historic reconciliation between the antagonistic Hamas and Fatah organizations.
By this time next week, the wealthy, 75-year-old, American-educated businessman and philanthropist could also be the choice of both parties to be the interim Palestinian government’s prime minister – which means he’d be responsible for taking the West Bank and Gaza to elections next year. And, if all goes according to Palestinian plan, that could include being prime minister should the Palestinian territories be recognized by the United Nations as an independent state this September.
“I want to see a state of Palestine before I die,” Mr. Masri explained in a lengthy interview at his remarkable home. “That’s why I’m working so hard.”
“For the past four years [since internecine violence forced Fatah to flee Gaza] I’ve worked 10 hours a day just on this,” he said.
Mr. Masri’s profitable businesses, including EDGO, his London-based engineering and drilling company started more than half a century ago, run fine without him, he said, particularly as most are managed by some of his six children.
PADICO, the $250-million Palestine Development and Investment Company that he chairs, made a $39-million profit in 2010 building West Bank infrastructure.
Born in Nablus during the British mandate and educated as a geologist in Texas, Mr. Masri made his money drilling water and oil wells in the Middle East and North Africa.
But, as he drilled, he also promoted his dream of a Palestinian state.
He met Yasser Arafat in 1963 in Algiers, where Mr. Masri was running a petroleum company just as that North African country emerged from its revolution against the French occupation, an inspiration for aspiring nationalists.
“I didn’t like him at first,” he said of Mr. Arafat. “I was put off by his Egyptian Arabic. It made him sound arrogant.”
“But I came to love the man,” he emphasized.
Mr. Masri was in Cairo in 1964 when the Arab League oversaw the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Mr. Arafat came to lead. . That was when Mr. Arafat was passed over as choice for leader in favour of Ahmad Shuqeiri, an Arab League diplomat.
“Shuqeiri didn’t like Arafat,” recalled Mr. Masri. “He called his group [Fatah] ‘a gang.’”
“I remember Arafat told them that in 10 years, he’d be leading the Palestinian people from the greatest heights,” Mr. Masri said. “Sure enough, in 1974, he gave his famous gun and olive branch speech at the United Nations, as the undisputed leader of the Palestinians.”
Mr. Masri also accompanied the gravely ill Mr. Arafat to Paris in 2004, remaining with him until his death.
Surveying the rocky hillsides beneath his 100-acre estate, Mr. Masri said he was never actually a member of Mr. Arafat’s Fatah movement. “I always said my party was Palestine,” he explained, “nothing more.”
A secular Muslim, Mr. Masri said he was never favourably disposed toward Hamas and its religious agenda.
“But once they were elected [in 2006],” he said, “I accepted their place in the leadership.”
“Over the years,” he added, “I’ve warmed to them.”
“When they make a decision, they stick to it,” he said. “I respect that.”
In bringing the two Palestinian factions together, it was Hamas that made the big concessions, Mr. Masri said.
“Look at the three big points Meshaal made in his speech,” Mr. Masri said, referring to the address by Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal at the reconciliation signing last Wednesday in Cairo.
“He accepted the ’67 borders, said he’d give negotiations a try and said he would engage in any armed resistance only if the PA [Palestinian Authority] agreed,” Mr. Masri enthused. “This is very significant.”
Even so, he acknowledged, “the biggest hurdles are still to come.”
“Building confidence between the people in the two factions” is the most important thing, Mr. Masri said. “There are so many doubters. I hate all this pessimism.”
As if on cue, a call from Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh interrupted the interview. Mr. Masri congratulated him on the great reconciliation agreement, hoping to build enthusiasm as he did with every caller.
Working out security arrangements between two opposing military forces also is a loaded issue. The first hurdle there will be figuring out how to man the soon-to-be-open Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Will PA forces be welcome in Hamas-controlled Gaza?
“Whatever is done, Hamas has to feel good about it,” Mr. Masri said. “They’re part of the system now.”
What will be the hardest thing for Mr. Meshaal to accept?
“He’s got to accept all the treaties from before, including the PLO’s agreements with Israel,” he answered. These previous agreements imply recognition of Israel, something Hamas is sworn to oppose.
“I’m sure they’ll recognize Israel when the time is right,” Mr. Masri said. “Why should they do it now?”
The biggest obstacle, he said, is Israel. “They’re undermining the deal.”
“This reconciliation is not ‘catastrophic,’ as [Benjamin] Netanyahu said,” Mr. Masri emphasized.
“You’ve got three-quarters of Palestine,” he argued, as if addressing the Israeli Prime Minister. “What more do you want?”
Mr. Masri became very Westernized during his early years in the United States. In Chicago, he fell in love with Palladian architecture at a dance hall he frequented.
“I always said I’d have a house like that,” he said, his hands describing the domed high ceiling, he had in mind. Today, he has that at the centre of his 16th-century Italian-inspired mansion.
“My ceiling’s even higher than the one in Chicago,” he noted with pride. “It’s 40 meters high.”
Mr. Masri also fell in love with another geologist from Texas, a Christian.
“She converted to Islam seven years after we got married,” Mr. Masri said. “But it didn’t matter. I believe in one god and we’re all of the same faith.”
Indeed, five of his six children also married Christians.
This week, Mr. Masri heads to Nazareth, an Arab city inside Israel; then he goes to Gaza, hoping to interest Arab-Israeli businesses to help in building up Gaza.
Allowing him to zip back and forth across these frontiers, Israel has given Mr. Masri a VIP pass, a luxury not enjoyed by many.
He prides himself in his good relations with Israelis.
“I met Rabin in Morocco in the 1980s,” he recalled, referring to the late Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin. “I liked him a lot.”
All of this reconciliation serves a purpose, Mr. Masri says. “I really want what’s best for all Palestinians and for all Israelis. I really do.”
“But it takes a brave man like Rabin to see this through,” he noted.
“Why doesn’t Netanyahu come to Ramallah and say: ‘Halas [it’s finished]. Let’s make peace.’
“I challenge him to do this.”
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