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Mrs. Arafat keeps husband
on life support
Where's his money?

Special to World Tribune.com
GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT.COM
Thursday, November 4, 2004

RAMALLAH — Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has died. He was 75 years old.

Israeli and Palestinian officials said Arafat died on Thursday in a military hospital in Paris. They said Arafat was deemed clinically dead, but still attached to life support systems on the insistence of his wife, Suha.

Palestinan Authority's Yasser Arafat: Abbas and Qurei sought to acquire his power to allocate money as the PA chairman departed for Paris. But as he boarded a Jordanian Air Force helicopter, Arafat refused. "I'm still alive, thank God, so don't worry," Arafat was quoted as saying. Reuters/Loay Abu Haykel
"He is dead, but neither Arafat's wife nor the Palestinian leadership is ready to announce this," a PA official said. "The announcement could take place on Friday."

The problem is that Arafat is still the only Palestinian official who can pay the bills. And it is unclear who, if anyone, has access to the estimated $2-3 billion in his personal Swiss bank accounts, according to a report in the current edition of Geostrategy-Direct.com. Even his wife is said to be unaware of how to access the funds.

Arafat continues to hold the purse strings to the Palestinian finances. For the last decade, he has been the final, and often only word on payment to everybody from the suicide bomber to the janitor. Not a dime was paid without Arafat's okay.

Before he left for Paris, Arafat approved a three-member emergency committee to operate the PA and PLO in his absence. Official said Ahmed Qurei was meant to run the PA's daily affairs while Mahmoud Abbas was appointed acting chairman of the PLO.

Palestine National Council chairman Salim Zaanoun, the third member of the committee, was said to be a symbolic figure.

Abbas and Qurei sought to acquire Arafat's power to allocate money during the absence of the PA chairman. But as he boarded a Jordanian Air Force helicopter for Amman, Arafat refused.

"I'm still alive, thank God, so don't worry," Arafat was quoted as saying.

Israeli officials confirmed that Arafat died on Thursday. They said Arafat was termed brain dead and physicians have stopped attending to him.

For Palestinians, the main question is where is Arafat's money?

Issam Abu Issa knows how Arafat appropriated and concealed money. Abu Issa was the founder and chairman of the Palestine International Bank from 1996 until he fled to Qatar in 2000.

"Rather than use donor funds for their intended purposes, Arafat regularly diverted money to his own accounts," Abu Issa said in a report for Middle East Quarterly. "It is amazing that some U.S. officials still see the Palestinian Authority as a partner even after U.S. congressional records revealed authenticated PLO papers signed by Arafat in which he instructed his staff to divert donors' money to projects benefiting himself, his family and his associates."

Arafat controls billions of dollars meant for the Palestinian people. In a word, he stole it, intelligence sources said, according to the Geostrategy-Direct report.

His personal fortune has been estimated at between $2 and $3 billion, most of it in Swiss bank accounts.

In 1997, the PA auditor's office said in its financial report that $326 million, or 43 percent of the annual budget, was "missing."

The United States has been supporting former PA security chief Mohammed Dahlan as Arafat's successor. To his friends in the Bush administration, Dahlan, 43, has all the qualities for Arab leadership: a smooth talker and brutal cop. Arafat asked Dahlan to accompany him to Paris in a move designed to keep him out of the Gaza Strip and any coup plot.

Another challenger has been Fatah Secretary-general Marwan Barghouti, sentenced to life in prison for a series of terrorist attacks. Barghouti, 44, has followers in the West Bank but does not appear to have the iron will necessary to face Arafat loyalists.

Neither Israeli nor PA officials have been told much about Arafat's condition, and the only one authorized to issue information from his hospital bedside is the chairman's wife, Suha.

Copyright © 2

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>Arafat approved a three-member emergency committee to operate the PA and PLO in his absence<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Wonderful...terrorism by committee.

"Live every day like it's the last, 'cause one day you're gonna be right!" Ray Charles (6/10/04 was the day)

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

So, I'm gonna get an e-mail telling me that some guy in Switzerland needs my help to get this money out, and that by giving him my bank account to work with, he'll give me a big cut. Right.<img src=newicons/anim_bannana.gif border=0 align=middle>

"Some pup"
Nickname by Fenderstrat72

_________________
Evil is evil, no matter how small.

Really? Gonna forward that email to 10 of your friends?<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/anim_bannana.gif border=0 align=middle>

"Live every day like it's the last, 'cause one day you're gonna be right!" Ray Charles (6/10/04 was the day)

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

WND Exclusive TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND
Arafat's wife
left out of will?
PLO chief reportedly refuses to leave money to spouse, could go to terrorists
Posted: November 4, 2004
8:30 p.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

Suha Arafat, wife of ailing Yasser Arafat, requested her husband this week draft a will leaving his multimillion dollar fortune to her, but Arafat refused, a Palestinian source told WorldNetDaily.

Meanwhile, Israel security sources said they're worried the PLO chief's money could be passed on to terrorists to continue the intifada.

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Arafat's health took a turn for the worst today when he slipped into what French officials announced may be an "irreversible coma" after he was transferred to a special unit said to be "more suitable for his pathology." Some officials are publicly speculating Arafat may have days, or even hours, to live.

But earlier this week, when Arafat was alert and in intensive care, likely paying attention to the U.S. elections, Suha requested that her husband instruct lawyers to draft a will that would leave his money to her upon his demise, a Palestinian source said.

"The President [Arafat] told her he had no plans of dying, and also said that his money would be well cared for," said the source. "He rejected her request."

Arafat is said to be worth hundreds of millions, mostly from money Israel says he secretly shifted to bank accounts in his name by allegedly plundering financial aid, mostly from European countries, sent to help a battered West Bank and Gaza economy over the years.

Forbes calculates Arafat, who comes in sixth behind Queen Elizabeth II in a list of wealthy world leaders, has a net worth of $300 million. Some Israelis believe Arafat's personal wealth may be as much as $11 billion, although in testimony to the Knesset last year Israel's chief of military intelligence, Aharon Zeevi, listed Arafat's personal assets at more than $1.3 billion.

Arafat also has millions invested in real estate, Middle East phone companies and a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ramallah, where the PA chairman's shattered compound lies.

Israel has accused Arafat of using some of his personal fortune to finance terror attacks against Israelis.

Documents found by the IDF during its Operation Defensive Shield campaign in April 2002 showed part of the huge budget of the PLO was diverted by Arafat for terrorist attacks.

In one example among many, Israel National News reported a letter was found signed by Arafat authorizing the transfer of thousands of dinars to Ahmed Mahmad Iz-A-Din Al-Kassam, a Hamas member who also represented Hezbollah in the PA and was responsible for transferring money for terror attacks and supporting terrorists' families.

That Arafat refuses to sign over his money to Mrs. Arafat has experts worried his fortune might be made available to Palestinian terror organizations for further attacks against Israelis.

"Yes, his money is being looked into," an Israeli security source told WorldNetDaily. "If he passes that kind of money on to the terrorists, it could fund the intifada for several more years."

Another source said Israel had long speculated Arafat would "leave with a bang. He may have something in the works. We are on very high alert."

If he's actually dead or not is the biggest mystery of this milleium thus far. Expect the EU and PLO to do a weekend at bernie's with Yassir...

"Would Sketch even listen to this?"

_________________

Btt. How psychic am I by predicting "weekend at Yasser's"? <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

"Would Sketch even listen to this?"

_________________