Free Republic

JERUSALEM – In a conversation with the Palestinian Authority, a White House official apparently compared Israel’s Knesset, or parliament, to the gravesite of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, according to a PA official speaking to WND. The Palestinian official, who asked that his name be withheld, said he was in contact with members of the Obama administration regarding Obama’s slated visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the U.S. president will meet PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian youth frustrated by Arafat's old guard By Patrick Bishop in Gaza (Filed: 17/01/2006) The banner stretched over the rubbish-strewn street boasts of "41 years of democracy and struggle". It gets a grim laugh from many who pass beneath it. This is the campaigning slogan of Fatah, the movement that dominates Palestinian life. Polls predict that Hamas could attract up to a third of the vote in January's parliamentary elections. To those whose interests it is supposed to represent it seems far from democratic. Rather, it is a pyramid of privilege. As for struggle, the only fighting is between rival...

A part of Yasser Arafat’s secret hoard - $4 bn - has been documented and accounted for in a painstaking project undertaken by Nigel Roberts, the World Bank’s country director for the West Bank, and Palestinian finance minister Salam Fayyad. They have obtained partial information about another $1-2bn and found a further three to four billion invested on Arafat’s behalf by two individuals, his chief financial adviser Mohammed Rashid, and Palestinian-born international tycoon Samer Khoury. This was reported exclusively by DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s exclusive sources for the first time in DNW Issue 197 on March 11. ”You can stop going around with...

JERUSALEM -- The Palestinian Authority, which President Bush, among others in this country and abroad, hopes will grow into an independent, peace-loving state adjacent to Israel, pays off its Arabic mass media to toe its political line. And if West Bank or Gaza Strip editors or reporters defy its dictates, they risk jail terms without prior access to courts of justice or physical assaults and destruction of their professional equipment. ''All of our newspapers receive money from Chairman Yasser Arafat -- some more and some less,'' a veteran Palestinian colleague said in a moment of candor. His adherence to journalistic...

Mrs Arafat's bank accounts probed Suha, who married the Palestinian leader in 1992, lives in Paris French prosecutors are looking into alleged multi-million dollar transfers into the bank accounts of the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Officials have confirmed reports of an inquiry into the financial transactions of Paris-based Suha Arafat. They acted after the Bank of France alerted them to transfers of nine million euros ($11.5m) from Switzerland to two of Mrs Arafat's accounts.Prosecutors say the investigation is at a preliminary stage. It was launched by the Paris public prosecutor last October after the Bank of France reported...

Arafat's choice as PM angers Israel by refusing to crack down on Hamas By Eric Silver in Jerusalem and Said Ghazali in the West Bank 09 September 2003 Peace looked as remote as ever yesterday as Ahmed Qureia, the Palestinian Prime Minister designate, appeared to be on a collision course with Israel, even before he began putting together his cabinet. Mr Qureia, popularly known as Abu Ala, has specified from the start that he will not crack down on Hamas and other armed groups, and that he will avoid confrontation with Yasser Arafat, whose refusal to yield control of key...

>Longing for Bill Clinton, By David Newman Feb. 25, 2003 One of the jokes doing the rounds in Washington and Jerusalem: Why did it take so long for President George W. Bush to make his policy statement on the Israel Palestine conflict (some eight weeks ago)? The answer? There was no one in the White House who could translate Bush's statement from Hebrew. Such is the perception of Israel US relations today. The two countries are seen as acting totally in tandem. Bush has given Prime Minister Ariel Sharon carte blanche to fight terror with all the means at...

Arafat's Support Falters Wednesday May 22, 2002 1:20 AM RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Yasser Arafat is at his weakest in years, with his popularity down and his people clamoring for reform. Yet, no serious challenger has emerged, according to political analysts and a new opinion poll released Tuesday. Marwan Barghouti, a key street leader of the Palestinian uprising, is the front-runner among potential contenders - but he's been sitting in an Israeli jail since the army detained him last month during a sweep through the West Bank. Criticism of Arafat and his Palestinian Authority is becoming increasingly open as...