Suha, the widow of the late infamous leader of the Palestinian Authority is set to receive $22 million a year for life! This is to cover her “living” expenses in Paris! And I thought it was expensive to live in NYC!
The money is supposed to be coming from secret accounts Arafat had set up prior to his death. Suha extorted this money from the PA by not allowing them to visit her late husband while he lay dieing in a Paris military hospital. Apparently this was the only way they could get their hands on the rest of the $4 billion he has hidden in banks around the world!
$22 million, that's one expensive 'lady'!
Article comments
1 - Tom
That 22 million a year would go along way to helping to build a Palestinian nation. But they would just buy bombs with it.
2 - andy marsh
Never thought about it like that...maybe it's a good thing that they're giving her all that money!
3 - Mac Diva
How credulous can people be?
No source is offered for this disinformation.
And, the person presenting it (I will not refer to such tripe as a blog entry) has a history of attacking women, particularly women he feels threatened by.
Nor are ethnic and religious bigotry unknown to the source of the 'material.'
I would not be surprised if Mrs. Arafat is raising money for the charitable foundation she runs. The focus of the charity is disabled Palestinian children.
4 - Al Barger
It figures that Diva would credit an Arafat with being a humanitarian, as if she or her late husband gave a good Allah-dam about the welfare of the Palestinian people- much less that of anyone else.
5 - Vic
Mac, I have to say that I am continually struck slack-jawed at the fact that you seem to give the benefit of the doubt more to Arafat, with his history of direct links to terrorism (if not actually his being the "father" of modern terrorism) than to President Bush and the invasion of Iraq.
Vic
6 - Mac Diva
I credit Suha Arafat with having the job she in fact has. To do otherwise would be to lie on her. Seems to me that enough people are doing that already.
7 - Al Barger
Right Diva, but also don't forget to point out that Yasser donated blood in response to 9/11. The Arafats are obviously great humanitarians and philanthropists.
8 - Phillip Winn
Here is a roundup of reports from a few sources for the numbers, which include $22 million per year, or alternately, $18 million one-time plus $432,000 per year.
Regardless of what the widow Arafat does with her money, I think that the question remains: from where is this money coming?
Forbes estimated Arafat's personal wealth at more than $200 million, while some estimates of hidden assets reach $2.4 billion. Googling, I found quite a few links suggesting numbers in this range, but it wasn't clear how many -- if any -- of them were doing original reporting.
In any case, Arafat was sitting on a huge pile of money by any standard while the Palestinian people lived (and continue to live) in squalor.
Given how Hussein's "measly" $20,000 checks encouraged so many in Palestine to blow themselves up while Hussein was still in a position to pass them out, I'm honestly surprised that Arafat let the series of suicide bombings trickle to nearly-nothing after Hussein was run to ground.
9 - Al Barger
Phil, by that time, Arafat was in a stalemate at Ramallah, and physically deteriorating. He just didn't have the get up and go to get the killing done, apparently.
10 - Mac Diva
All those sources trace back to the Israelis who, not exactly new at disseminating disinformation, claim to have gotten the $22 million figure from an Italian newspaper. How would it know? Ditto for claims about Arafat and wealth. By all accounts the man lived like a refugee. That was Suha's main complaint about him. Nor is living well anything new for Suha. She is the daughter of very wealthy Palestinian Christians.
Again, this is the kind of nonsense that makes the blogosphere often laughable. Lots of opinion, but not a single fact.
11 - andy marsh
Diva would do anything to make something I wrote look bad...You can say anything you want...this woman extorted a ton of money from the PA! That was the only way she allowed them to get the body...I would imagine that the racist claims will come next...this is the standard fair of Mac Diva!!!
By all accounts the man lived like a refugee...with a few $billion in the bank!!!
You're breaking the worlds heart diva...keep it up...it just makes you look so good!!!
Living well...$22 million a year should make sure that she continues to do that!!!
I'm sorry Diva...but you really are an idiot...you give so much credence to the term EDUCATED IDIOT it's not even amusing!!!
12 - Mac Diva
It is no longer necessary for me to be explicit in describing Andy Marsh. Most readers see what he is, in all its repugnance, for themselves.
However, I do want to restate my basic point: There is no evidence the allegations are true. The only mainstream accounts of Suha Arafat's behavior at the hospital say she refused to allow Arafat to be tested for brain death despite his colleagues offering her $2 million. So, one can accede to bigotry and stupidity, or wait for reliable information. Bright people will do the latter.
13 - boomcrashbaby
I wonder, with an 'unknown' ailment that included 'digestive' problems, how come nobody in the media is speculating about the obvious?
In any case, Arafat was sitting on a huge pile of money by any standard while the Palestinian people lived (and continue to live) in squalor.
With CEO's pulling in 30 million in stock options while outsourcing their labor to 1 dollar an hour kids overseas, or 'toughing' it and paying an American the minimum wage of 7 bucks an hour, WELL below the cost of living, Arafat doesn't sound too different than many Americans, in the above statement at least.
As the economic gap in America, already the largest in the world, continues to grow and the poor become more entrenched in a government/society ruled by the elite few, it's not hard to imagine within 20 years or so, Americans coming up with our own version of suicide bombing....
14 - RJ
"With CEO's pulling in 30 million in stock options while outsourcing their labor to 1 dollar an hour kids overseas, or 'toughing' it and paying an American the minimum wage of 7 bucks an hour, WELL below the cost of living, Arafat doesn't sound too different than many Americans"
Do CEOs blow up little kids for kicks?
15 - RJ
And there is, of course, a huge difference between earning a large amount of money legally, via the free market, and stealing international donations that are supposed to go to a poverty-stricken people, and instead putting it in a Swiss-bank account.
You knew that, right?
16 - RJ
"it's not hard to imagine within 20 years or so, Americans coming up with our own version of suicide bombing...."
In your sick dreams...
Oh, and a recent report finds that poverty does not have any correlation to terrorism.
17 - boomcrashbaby
Do CEOs blow up little kids for kicks?
The comparison wasn't to Arafat's terrorist activities, it was to the comment about someone sitting on wealth while all those around him suffered. It is a pretty clear and simple analogy that most wouldn't trip over.
Regarding comment 15, yes I knew that, the comment was about the growing economic gap in this country, nowhere did I infer that HOW the economic gap happens is the same here as in Palestine. It is a pretty clear and simple analogy that most wouldn't trip over.
In your sick dreams...
Saying that I can imagine something happening in the future does not mean that I wish it to happen. It's simple, it's clear and most wouldn't trip over it.
Oh, and a recent report finds that poverty does not have any correlation to terrorism
Reading a post-it note stuck to your monitor does not constitute a recent report to me. Do you have a link or no?
And while poverty may not correlate to terrorism (I don't know that), I would have to say that oppression does. Considering that much of poverty (though not all of it) is caused by some sort of oppression, I CAN see home-made terrorism in our future, based on the route we are going.
Here's a question: Many people (and if I remember correctly, yourself included) are against hate crimes as legislating thought. So why are there terrorism charges? Wouldn't the simple murder charges be enough (assuming the terrorist survived)?
18 - SFC Ski
I believe the report is here:
http://www.ems.org/nws/2004/01/05/ecsp_report_9_ex
If you follow through to the report itself, the releveant cites are in Commentaries (pp12-27) The report makes for interesting reading.
19 - boomcrashbaby
okay then, I'm not going to read it all, so there is no correlation between poverty and terrorism, the individuals who are working hard and successfully to make this country a two-class system can all breath a sigh of relief. :-)
I believe Bill Moer (sp?) from NPR who talks about the attempt in this country to create a two-class system of ruling elites and those in poverty, much like the comment about Palestine which caused me to pipe up in the first place. I DO believe that oppression can cause terrorism, and I've never heard of oppression being completely separate from poverty.
20 - SFC Ski
It's funny you should mention that, the report does state that there is a link between oppression and terrorism. Oppression is not synonymous with poverty, though poverty can be one earmark of oppression. To say otherwise would infer that the middle class or the wealthy cannnot be oppressed, but history would prove one wrong.
21 - SFC Ski
Too bad I don't know how to edit my comments, but something that needs to be borught up is that Arafat was in control of a lot of funding provided for Palestinians as a whole, and we can easily see a lot of it never got down to them, but is probably lining the pockets of some of Arafat's family and supporters.
22 - Eric Olsen
I imagine one can squint an eye and eulogize Arafat from the "embodying the aspirations of a people" standpoint, but NO ONE with a fingertip on reality - including the Palestinian leadership - denies that Arafat was a plundering, rapacious kleptocrat squirelling away ill-gotten gains meant for penniless women and children. This shall be his final legacy.
23 - Mac Diva
Prove that, Eric. Take all the space you need.
24 - SFC Ski
Eric, what's say you and I go off to Gaza and the West Bank, I can translate for you, and you buy put it on your expense account. Question, do we need to ask EVERY Palestinian what they thought of Arafat, or can we get a decent percentage and go from there?
25 - Eric Olsen
I imagine we'd have to ask every single one, since you can't prove a negative and scientific polling has been on the rocks lately.
That's a pretty sweet skill, Ski, translation-wise