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Sha'ath, Abu Mazen, Abu Ala all corrupt, all despised.
MIDDLEEAST.ORG - MER - Washington - 9 November: Collectively and in most cases individually, they are now so impoverished, demoralized, and imprisoned in 2004 as their only world leader since their liberation movement was born passes from the world stage.
Dispossessed of their lands by the Zionists, they have been collectively murdered, tortured, and now, beyond the refugee camps, have been forced into walled-in Bantustans by the Israelis and their complicitous supporters primarily in the United States and Europe.
Repeatedly lied to and tricked by the great powers time after time, "peace plan" after "peace plan", going back to the age of their grandparents, back to Sykes-Picot and the Paris Peace Conference of 1918...the infamous "Peace to end all Peace."
And, in a sense worst of all, for so long now betrayed by a generation of extraordinarily corrupt and selfish "VIP Leaders", often-times actually working in coordination if not in concert with their worst enemies, who have repeatedly sold their own people down the river while enriching and impriviledging themselves.
And tragically -- even realizing all the more uplifting things that he was and did -- it was Yasser Arafat, the man the Palestinian people still look to in near-death as they did when larger than life, who oversaw all that has happened for the past fourty+ years, including allowing so much of the curruption and incompetence and duplicity to take firm root.
And now...in the final end...Arafat is suffering in his final moments, and for much history to come, not only from what his enemies have done to him and his people but from what those around him are doing as well.
All three of the senior Palestinians now in Paris are hugely politically and financially corrupt, and thus widely despised by their own people.
This is hardly the first time MER has commented harshly and candidly about Nabil Shaa'th, or Abu Mazen, or Abu Ala. We have in fact done so for years now as upcoming FlashBack articles will serve to remind.
As for Suha Tawil, Arafat's "wife", she has proven time and again what a self-serving extortionist and political witch she has truly been -- taking after her mother Ramonda who managed to steal and embezzle more limited millions from the PLO in her own days before introducing her dumpy daughter to Yasser and moving from Palestine to her luxury-life in exile.
Will $1 billion be buried with Arafat?
"A huge scramble has been going on to get the codes he holds in his head for various bank accounts he holds in secret," says a senior Palestinian banker.
"It's an uphill struggle, and we may never get the bulk of it," says the official, who declined to be identified out of fear for his safety.
"It's been his key to holding on to power and influence, and some of it may go to the grave with him. If the numbers die with him, then the Swiss bankers and other bankers worldwide will be rubbing their hands in glee," the Palestinian banker says.
Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath were flying to Paris and hoped to see Mr. Arafat today.
Mr. Arafat's wife lashed out at his top lieutenants, accusing them of traveling to Paris with plans to "bury" her husband "alive," the Associated Press reported today.
In a screaming telephone call from Mr. Arafat's hospital bedside, Suha Arafat told Al Jazeera television that his top aides were conspiring to usurp her husband's four-decade role as Palestinian leader.
Jawad Ghussein, who was secretary-general of the Palestinian National Fund until 1996 but now lives in London, charged last week that Mr. Arafat had for years misappropriated Palestinian funds — much of it donated by oil-rich Arab governments — for personal use.
"The billions Arafat has stolen over the years from the Palestinian people facilitated the corruption of the Palestinian leadership, and is the source of his power over them," Mr. Ghussein says.
Mr. Ghussein says that for 12 years he had deposited $7.5 million to $8 million each month into Mr. Arafat's personal bank account.
"The money is in personal accounts under his complete control," he was quoted as saying. "Only one person knew where [the money] went, and that was Arafat."
Saudi contributions until 2003 amounted to $15.4 million every two months, and the United States has increased its annual contribution to the Palestinian Authority to $223 million.
An International Monetary Fund report, "Economic Performance and Reforms under Conflict Conditions," released in September 2003, concluded that $900 million in Palestinian Authority revenues from 69 commercial enterprises had "disappeared" between 1995 and 2000.
The report also found that $34 million out of the $74 million 2003 budget for Mr. Arafat's own office was missing after having been transferred to pay unidentified organizations and individuals.
The IMF report traced some $1.1 billion diverted by Mr. Arafat to a "special account" at Bank Leumi in Tel Aviv. It is not clear what happened to that money but, according to some Palestinian reports, during the past year Mr. Arafat and his close aides have switched banks and have diversified the portfolio.
Shortly before Mr. Arafat was flown from Ramallah for treatment in France, his wife received $60 million in her Paris bank account. According to French press reports, authorities in France are investigating the transfer.
Banking sources in Geneva say some accounts, either numbered or in the name of the Palestinian leader's wife, have been moved from Switzerland to Caribbean financial havens. These apparently include about $300 million previously held by Mr. Arafat at the Odier Bank in Geneva.
The New York-based American Center for Democracy said in a report in July that Mr. Arafat also personally controlled 60 percent of the security-apparatus budget, which left him with an additional $360 million per year to spend as he chose.
The center said that from July 2002 to September 2003, Mr. Arafat transferred $11.4 million to bank accounts controlled by Mrs. Arafat, who is living luxuriously in Paris and is known for her extravagant shopping habits.
As of August 2002, the center reported, Mr. Arafat's personal holdings included $500 million that rightfully belonged to the Palestine Liberation Organization. In all, his holdings were estimated to total $1.3 billion at that time.
The money "is enough to feed 3 million Palestinians for one year, and also buy 1,000 mobile intensive care units, as well as to fund 10 hospitals for a decade," the center said. At least 60 percent of the Palestinian Authority's budget comes from international aid contributions, of which the European Union is the largest donor.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, individual EU member states have donated at least $1.3 billion to the Palestinian Authority. Total aid from Europe — including EU donations — from 1998 to 2001 has totaled at least $4 billion.
In December the United States, Japan, the European Union and Norway, joined by the Arab League countries and the International Monetary Fund, approved another $1.2 billion to the Palestinian Authority for the 2004 budget.
By Arnon Regular
Ha'aretz - 8 November: In the wake of Yasser Arafat's unstable condition, rumors have multiplied concerning funds that were previously under the Palestinian Authority chairman's control and which various elements in the PA are trying to locate. Reports have also abounded concerning a power struggle between Arafat's wife, Suha, and his financial adviser, Mohammed Rashid, who is in Paris.
A conservative estimate of the total sum held by Arafat in various
places around the world is about $1 billion, and is largely based on
monies that were clearly taken out of the territories and withdrawn from
PA accounts between 1995 and 2000.
According to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which
reviewed PA accounts and, in particular, the activity of the Palestinian
Commercial Services Co. (PCSC) - Rashid's main agency, which oversaw
cement, tobacco and building supplies' monopolies - an astronomical
$897.6 million that was accrued by the PCSC and its offshoots during
those years was spirited out of the Palestinian treasury and transfered
to mysterious accounts in the course of 1999.
All attempts to trace that money came to naught, but several months
after the report was written in mid-2003, a French prosecutor launched
an inquiry into suspicions of money-laundering involving accounts
belonging to Suha Arafat in France and Switzerland. She claimed the
investigation stemmed from information given to the French authorities
by "the Sharon government."
The bottom line is that the investigation continued, but its results are
not known. The sum discovered in her accounts totaled $11.5 million.
According to the IMF report, entitled "West Bank and Gaza: Economic
Performance and Reform under Conflict," when the PA was hit by a
recession at the beginning of the intifada, particularly after Israel
stopped transfering taxes it had collected, about $119 million was
returned to the PA's current operational account - but the remaining
$778 million or so disappeared.
International officials, especially those from PA donor countries,
demanded that Arafat return the money to the PA's account, particularly
following criticism within the donor countries over lax supervision of
the PA's accounts during the Oslo years, and in view of Israel's charge
that donations were being used to finance terrorist activity.
The money transfered to mystery accounts is apparently not the only sum
that Arafat moved outside the territories. The IMF report explicitly
states that the allegedly smuggled sums do not include the PA's income
from taxes, about which no record has been found, nor investments that
Mohammed Rashid made exclusively outside the territories. Additional
monies that may have gone missing from PA accounts derive from various
taxes levied on PA bureaucrats throughout the years.
In the case of the Karin A ship (seized in 2002 on its way to PA
territories laden with weapons), at least, it is known that the ship's
purchase was handled by the treasurer of the Palestinian security
forces, Fuad Shubaki, who is in detention in Jericho, but it's unclear
where the millions of dollars came from to buy the weapons in Iran.
Additionally, the money that disappeared does not include the income of
the PA monopolies between the beginning of the intifada and the end of
2003, when they were placed under the auspices of the Palestine
Investment Fund, which belongs to the PA and is headed by Finance
Minister Salam Fayyad.
Mohammed Rashid served until two weeks ago as a member of the PIF's
board of directors and was active on all its committees. Immediately
after the news of Arafat's deteriorating health, Rashid resigned from
this fund, which consolidates investments he made over the years. The
fund was set up at the behest of the donor countries, which demanded
sweeping reforms and brought in international accounting firms to audit
Rashid's assets.
The fund reported holdings as of December 2003 that were worth $799
million. The sums in the fund are under the ongoing supervision of
Fayyad and its board of directors, and cannot be withdrawn without the
board's consent.
Other question marks concerning assets and monies held by Arafat remain
with respect to accounts that the PLO and Fatah operate separate from
other PA accounts. The extent and origins of the money in these accounts
have never been fully ascertained.
Palestinian Authority faces financial crisis
Boston Globe - November 6, 2004 - RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Senior Palestinian officials struggled yesterday to stabilize the financial operations of the Palestinian Authority, as Yasser Arafat lingered at what an envoy termed a "critical juncture between life and death."
The authority's ability to carry out day-to-day government functions had been in question even before Arafat's health deteriorated this week as a result of what is widely believed to be a terminal illness. The Palestinian finance minister, Salam Fayyad, told Western donor countries -- which have kept the authority afloat for years -- that the body faces gaping deficits and appealed for help meeting its payroll, according to Palestinian officials, who said the plea was made in a teleconference.
Fayyad told representatives of the donor nations that the authority has only $19 million on hand to meet payroll expenses of $225 million between now and the end of the year, and that other nonpayroll monthly expenses are running at an additional deficit of $135 million. It was unclear whether he requested a certain amount of additional aid.
Arafat has personal discretion over a large portion of Palestinian public funds and is believed to have placed hundreds of millions of dollars in secret, numbered bank accounts abroad. His heirs and possible political successors are angling for control of the money.
The Palestinian leader, who is being treated at Percy Military Training Hospital outside Paris, has been in a life-threatening crisis since Wednesday. His condition was unchanged yesterday, according to Dr. Christian Estripeau, head of communications for French military health services.
"The state of health of President Yasser Arafat has not worsened," Estripeau said at a news conference outside the hospital, where more than 300 journalists from all over the world gathered. "He is considered stable compared to the last medical report."
The terse statement did nothing to resolve rampant confusion about Arafat's condition. Unsubstantiated reports have said he is in a coma; others that he is on life support.
Leila Shahid, the Palestinian representative in France, denied French and Israeli media reports that Arafat was being kept alive on life support.
"I can assure you that there is no brain death," Shahid told French RTL radio. "He is in a coma. We don't know the type, but it's a reversible coma. . . . Today we can say that, given his condition and age, he is at a critical juncture between life and death."
Arafat has habitually kept large deposits of Palestinian funds in secret bank accounts, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials and Arab journalists. An International Monetary Fund report last year found that hundreds of millions of dollars are under the sole discretion of Arafat. The Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera this week estimated his fortune at $4.2 billion to $6.5 billion -- which would make Arafat one of the richest political leaders in the world.
Several Arab media outlets reported that Arafat has written a will transferring control of his assets to the family of his wife, Suha, who has recently been investigated by French authorities examining whether large transfers of funds to her accounts from Arafat included money from French aid payments to the Palestinians.
Al-Jazeera has reported that senior Palestinian officials, including the Palestine Liberation Organization's secretary general, Mahmoud Abbas, assert that Arafat's fortune is part of the public treasury and should be transferred back to the Palestinian Authority, which runs the schools, waste system, and other public services.
The only person who knows the origin of the funds and their location apparently is Mohammed Rashid, a Kurd who is Arafat's confidant and financial adviser. Rashid, also known as Khaled Salam, has lived in the Gaza Strip for the past decade and is a member of the Palestinian delegation with Arafat in Paris.
With 108,000 employees, it is by far the largest employer in the territories, and Palestinians who had become disillusioned with Arafat were saying even before he fell ill that if the authority were unable to meet its payroll it would cease to exist, leaving a void that could lead to chaos and violence in the occupied territories.
The Palestinian Authority television station is repeatedly showing pictures of Arafat in meetings and playing flattering videos. But in public, ordinary Palestinians appear to show little interest in Arafat's condition. Unlike during previous crises involving Arafat's health or personal security, there have been no large demonstrations either for Arafat or against Israel.
The speaker at prayers yesterday at Ramallah's largest mosque did not mention Arafat, and no special prayers were offered in Arafat's behalf. Instead, he referred to flash points in the Iraqi resistance and in the Palestinians' struggle with Israel.
"Let them burn Najaf, let them destroy Fallujah," the speaker said. "Let them devastate Rafah and Gaza. We will never stop our jihad."
Palestinian leaders in Ramallah and in Paris said that they were united and that there would be no power struggle to fill the vacuum left by Arafat.
"We have laws that are very clear about who will take control, and we will follow those laws," said Mohammed Dahlan, a former head of internal security in Gaza who is a member of the Palestinian entourage in Paris.
Abdel Fattah Hamayel, a Cabinet member during the brief period last year when Abbas was prime minister before Arafat forced him out, said "the Palestinian people are passing through a critical stage, a serious crisis" of leadership.
Abbas and Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, who have taken over in Arafat's absence, "are only caretakers," he said, adding that only prompt elections could prevent a chaotic power struggle once Arafat is officially removed from the scene.
Dr. Walid Tarifi, a physician in Ramallah, also said Palestinians must have an election.
"We have tired of dictatorship," Tarifi said. "The Palestinian people will not accept less than an election for a new leader to replace Yasser Arafat. . . . We do not want puppets such as Hamid Karzai and Iyad Allawi," referring to the US-backed Afghan and Iraqi leaders. By law, elections should be held within 60 days of a vacancy in the Palestinian chairmanship. But Tarifi said that is wishful thinking.
"There are external pressures on the [Palestinian Authority] officials from the United States, Britain, and Israel," he said. "There are opportunists among the Palestinians who seek power. It is time to fish in troubled waters."
Charles A. Radin of the
Globe staff wrote and contributed to this report from Tel Aviv. Ghazali
reported from Ramallah; Sennott from Paris. 
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