Palestinian billionaire critical of Trump detained in Saudi

Monitoring Desk

RIYADH: Sabih al-Masri, a Palestinian billionaire and the chairman of Jordan’s largest lender Arab Bank, was detained in Saudi Arabia for questioning after a business trip to Riyadh, family sources and friends said on Saturday.

They said Masri, a Saudi citizen and Jordan’s most prominent businessman with holdings in hotels and banking, was detained after heading to the Saudi capital last week to chair meetings of companies he owns.

Masri could not be reached for comment. The Saudi authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

Masri had voiced opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Confidants said Masri had been warned not to travel to Saudi Arabia after mass arrests last month of Saudi royals, ministers and businessmen in the biggest purge of the kingdom’s affluent elite in its modern history.

Masri originally comes from a prominent merchant family from Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Masri was elected chairman of Arab Bank in 2012 after the resignation of Abdel Hamid Shoman whose family had founded the bank in Jerusalem in 1930.

He is also the leading investor in the Palestinian territories with a large stake in Paltel, a public shareholding company, which is the largest private sector firm in the West Bank.

Masri’s family ranks among the wealthiest of Palestinian families, with majority holdings in real estate, hotels and telecommunications firms set up in the territories after a self-rule agreement with Israel in 1993.