Palestinian Billionaire Steps Into Philanthropy

Munib al Masri, a Palestinian billionaire, is becoming more active in the charitable sector, recently building a museum at his West Bank home and planning to remake his estate into a research center for foreign professors, reports National Public Radio.

Mr. Masri, who made his money in the oil industry overseas, was educated in the United States but moved back to the Palestinian territories in the 1990s. At his 70-acre estate, which includes olive groves and an Italian-style villa, he hopes to create an academic retreat to lure scholars to teach at Palestinian universities and discuss the “subjects we want to create a strong Palestinian state,” he says.

He plans to let the public visit a new museum at the estate, which is filled with mosaics and other relics of a fourth-century Byzantine church he uncovered while building his home. Mr. Masri has also founded a lobbying group, the Muntada Forum, to advocate reform and create discussion among Palestinian groups.