Palestinians let rip at Arafat's wife

[JI7]

<GAZA CITY (AFP) - Palestinians let rip at Yasser Arafat's wife Suha on Monday after she alleged his top lieutenants were trying to bury him alive, accusing her of abandoning the nationalist struggle for the boutiques of Paris.

The bottle-blonde Suha, who is 34 years younger than the 75-year-old Palestinian leader, had not even seen her husband for nearly three years before flying to his West Bank headquarters late last month and then accompanying him to France for urgent medical care.


In an emotional appeal to the Palestinian people, Suha said that "a handful of (people) seeking to inherit power are coming to Paris to try and bury Abu Ammar (Arafat) alive. I ask you to look at the extent of the plot."

But her appeal to the Palestinian public appears to have fallen on deaf ears, with most people denouncing her as a "gold digger" and "deserter".>

http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/tue/nov9w19.htm

[MADem]

1. Suha should have saved a bit

She gets $150K US every month from the PA while in Paris, which has been for some four or more years. Granted, her housing is plush, there are security people that need paying, but she could have put a LITTLE aside. What is going on here, I think, is that she is limiting access to Arafat contingent on a settlement from the PA. Once he buys the farm, the checks are cut off. There is no huge inheritance, so she needs to cut a deal with the PA now. I faintly suspect Arafat could well be on life support, and will die once she gets the cash and he is unplugged. But the PA can't really move forward with succession issues until they verify Arafat's condition. If they pay, she'll suddenly allow access, right after Arafat conveniently takes a turn for the worse.

Of course, Suha 'saved' Arafat, so that should count for something--she's been on a bit of a spending binge, but she should be given a decent lump sum so she can go on post-Yassir. And, there's his little girl who needs some support as well. The marriage happened right around the time another one of those ugly, persistent rumors about Yassir and young boys reared its ugly head once again. The marriage sort of shut people up, or distracted them, anyway, about that business.