Masri, one of the richest Palestinians, is trying to prod banks and Arab nations to help avert the Palestinian Authority’s collapse following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election victory.

Masri, chairman of Palestine Development & Investment Co., said Netanyahu’s campaign remarks against Palestinian statehood and Israel’s withholding of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue were “black smoke” on the horizon.

“If Israel keeps doing what it is doing, it will cause the Palestinian Authority to collapse,” he said. “We are talking to everyone to see what can be done.”

Masri, 80, a confidant of the late Yasser Arafat, says he’s contacted Arab leaders and lenders in an effort to manage the financial crunch in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The government of Algeria said Tuesday it transferred $52.8 million to the Palestinian Authority, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Masri holds 5.1 percent of publicly traded Padico, the largest private investor in the West Bank and Gaza. The Jordan-based holding and his multinational Edgo Management Group SA engineering firm give him a fortune close to $300 million, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Masri, who lives in a domed villa overlooking the city of Nablus, has declined to discuss his wealth.

Netanyahu, elected to a fourth term on March 17, froze the transfer of levies Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians in January after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he’d seek to prosecute Israel on war crimes charges.

Partial Salaries

The money — $127 million a month — represents almost 40 percent of the Palestinian Authority’s monthly budget. Palestinians are trying to hold out against the financial pressure through a temporary 40 percent cut in salaries for some 160,000 civil service employees.

Fifty-six percent of Palestinians say Israel’s withholding of tax revenue will cause the Palestinian Authority’s collapse, according to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah. The survey of 1,262 Palestinians had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Masri has been a key intermediary in reconciliation efforts between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the militant Islamic organization that runs the Gaza Strip and is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union.

Gaza Visit

Rami Hamdallah, the PA prime minister, visited Gaza Wednesday for the first time in five months and said he was meeting with Hamas leaders on a Swiss plan to enable delivery of some $5.4 billion in international funds to repair damage from last year’s war with Israel. Donors have balked at transferring the funds because of concern Hamas will use the money to rebuild tunnels used for attacking Israel.

Netanyahu’s victory will hurt international investment in Palestinian businesses in the West Bank, Masri predicted.

“Even with just a glimpse of Palestinian statehood, a lot of people came in and they did OK,” said Masri, who helped to found the Palestine Stock Exchange. “Now that Israel is doing everything to stop a state, it will be difficult for people to come in.”

No State

Days before the election, Netanyahu roused supporters by saying he wouldn’t allow the establishment of a Palestinian state now if re-elected. Netanyahu later said he still accepts the principle of the two-state solution to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians, yet doesn’t think conditions are ripe because of mounting threats to Israel.

In light of Netanyahu’s initial remarks, President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the U.S. would evaluate dropping its opposition to the Palestinians’ campaign for statehood at the United Nations.

As faith in peace talks fades, Masri said Palestinians need to increase pressure on Israel through prosecution at the International Criminal Court, a war crimes tribunal. He said the international BDS movement, which promotes economic boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel, should be expanded.

“I don’t want to see an armed conflict,” said Masri, a co-founder of Breaking the Impasse, a group of Palestinian and Israeli business leaders working to keep peace prospects alive. “I call for peaceful resistance.”

He said he hopes Obama will let the UN Security Council recognize the state of Palestine and withhold a previously threatened veto.

“Netanyahu fooled us, he fooled America and he fooled the whole world,” Masri said. “The Israelis must realize that the Palestinians will not give up.”