Posted on 11/04/2004 5:16:57 PM PST by Time is now
Israeli and Palestinian officials said Arafat died on Thursday in a military hospital in Paris. They said Arafat was deemed clinically dead, but is 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. Officials 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, Middle East Newsline reported. 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.
The creep is indeed tot!
Israel had to be mindful of Arafat's playmates: Carter & Clinton!!!
I could care less if he's dead.
Bury the little murderous POS. Head first. Now!
Perhaps he's nailed to his perch.
Mrs. Clinton & Mrs. Arafat...the evil embrace!
I don't know how any one could forget them.
They reek of socialism!!!!
And it STINKS!!!!!
He's dead, Jim.
somewhere there is a baby lamb with a gotee...
Either way, the cage match between Yasser the Toerrorists' colleagues will commence. Might be another stupid bloodbath, OR the cooler heads worn by those tired of the needless deaths of Palestinian youth, i.e: their future, will prevail. In the interests of the people living in the Palestinian territories, I pray for the latter.
To the people of the PA territories: Good luck folks. The future is yours to make green and golden or a charred wasteland. It's up to y'all. Unless you allow your best and brightest of your youth to become productive adults, you have no future and are the death of yourselves. Let freedom reign.
I pity the undertaker whose job it is to separate Carter's lips from Arafat's behind.
I am quite pleased that the murderous f*ck is dead. I am dancing in the street.
LOL!
Allah doesn't see to want him ...
I think they're hoping that the Sodium Pentathol
will take effect and they can get that account number
out of him.
Allo Banque Suisse.
No, No Mrs.Arafat I'm sorry zare is nossing we can do.
Bon Nui.
Wait until sKerry finds out there is an available heiress out there worth more than Tereza!!
Sincerely Dead....
She knows the numbers of the secret bank accounts and needs him alive in order to drain them. As the wife of an adherant of the Religion of Peace and Love ® she's not entitled to ANY inheritance. Only male offspring are.
No sugar tonight in my Kofi.
Sorry, this makes me want to spit.......poohey!
Hang on to that.
Just in case we need it to run against the missus.
Bury? Yes, I suppose that'll be fine. Although burning, shredding and flushing might be more satisfying.
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