Israeli Prisoners Become Rich and Help Palestinian Entrepreneurs – 14 hours ago

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – A rich Palestinian businessman named Bashar Masri is in the spotlight amidst the increasingly heated armed conflict between Israel and Hamas.

He is known to have played a role in providing assistance to the Palestinian community in terms of city development, even though currently the Palestinian community in Gaza is being attacked by Israeli troops.

So, who is Bashar Masri?

Bashar Masri is a businessman from the al-Masri family who was born in Nablus, Palestine, in 1961. He is still in the same family as Munib al-Masri, a businessman who is now the richest person in Palestine.

He also grew up in an arena of conflict. At the age of six, he was an eyewitness to the cruelty of the Israeli military in what is now called the Six Day War (1967).

At that time, Israel suddenly and unilaterally took control of the Palestinian territories including the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. The Israeli military also expelled 750,000 Palestinian residents, including destroying their homes.

Bashar admitted to Time that he believed as a child that violence was the only way to resolve conflicts. This is where the seeds of rebellion began to emerge within him.

He said that when he was still active at school, he often planned demonstrations and wrote letters of protest to various parties regarding the oppression experienced by Palestinians. One of them was shown to UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, although it is not known whether the letter arrived or not.

Moving against the flow makes Bashar’s life full of risks. Because the chances of him being arrested by the Israeli authorities are very high. However, like a true activist, he is not afraid of that.

Until finally he was actually arrested by the Israeli authorities after throwing stones at soldiers during a demonstration. At exactly 14 years old, he officially spent the night behind bars. However, this action did not deter Bashar.

Once free, he fought again. Then two years later, in 1975 or at the age of 16, he had to go to prison for the second time. He was detained for opposing the Israeli government and had to undergo school exams in a cell.

After his prison term ended, his parents sent Bashar to Cairo, Egypt. There he then studied seriously until he succeeded in studying in the United States and England. Since then, the view of violence as the best way to fight Israel has begun to change.

While living abroad since the 1990s, Bashar began to build a career. He is known to have worked for many management and consulting companies based in Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Not only that, citing Bloomberg International, he also has his own company which operates in the real estate sector in Morocco, Libya, Jordan and Egypt. From here he began to build wealth.

Even so, success did not make Bashar forget his homeland. He wanted to return home several times, but always failed. In 1991 he was deported by Israel because he was considered a dangerous figure.

It was only in 1994 that the entrance to Palestine began to open wide. He immediately flew to Tel Aviv and visited Nablus. There he was shocked to see the miserable fate of the Palestinians. There are even school friends who used to be smart who are now unemployed because there are no job opportunities.

“Since then I have been determined to help build the nation and provide opportunities to the Palestinian people,” said Bashar.

This determination was later realized through the construction of the first modern city in Palestine called Rawabi. Rawabi is projected to spend US$ 1.4 billion or Rp. 22 trillion, all of which relies purely on investors under the auspices of Bashar’s investment company, Massar International Ltd.

During construction, Rawabi will employ local people. For Bashar, this is a national struggle to improve social welfare, education and nation building. With the presence of jobs, Palestine can grow. If all of this is achieved, then the Palestinian people can achieve their independence.

All of this ultimately made Palestine ‘alive’ again even though it was repeatedly beaten badly by Israeli Zionists.

However, this development effort has also drawn criticism from pro-Palestinian groups. Quoting Insider, criticism arose because Bashar was proven to be collaborating with Israel.

Bashar admitted that there was cooperation, but he argued that it was all for the benefit of the Palestinian people. The reason is, this collaboration is needed to attract international attention. To The Guardian, Bashar said that if Rawabi was successful, this would be a matter of national pride, as well as giving the message that Palestine could build a country.

As a result, the project has been running since 2000 and now the results are starting to be seen. During construction, Rawabi employed 10,000 Palestinians. A few days before the Hamas vs Israel war took place, local media covered him monitoring a manufacturing investment project there.

Not only taking care of Rawabi, now Bashar, since 2021, is also building the Lana project in East Jerusalem. Lana is the second modern independent city in Palestine.

Apart from that, he is also the CEO of the investment company PADICO which has managed funds of US$ 815 million or Rp. 12.7 trillion for development in the financial, energy, industrial and property sectors. All profits are diverted for the benefit of the Palestinian people.

Thanks to all these efforts, Bashar was named by Fortune as an influential world leader in the world in 2018.

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(mkh/mkh)