Yasser Arafat's wife has led a life of luxury in Paris

[Tab]

She wears Paris fashions. He wears military fatigues. He's a soldier. She's a shopper.

He led a decades-long insurgency - as either a terrorist or a great leader, depending on perspective. She opted for life in a luxury hotel in Paris - as either a pragmatic mother or a deserter, again depending on perspective.

It's unlikely that the married years of Suha and Yasser Arafat will be among the great love stories of the times, but this week they're on many Palestinian minds.
...
She was blonde, a former Sorbonne student. He was 61. She was 27, and she'd later admit that she'd ''married a myth."
http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm1308_20041110.htm

[ronnykmarshall]

1. Neeeeewwwww York

is where I'd rather stay!

I get allergic smelling hay!!

[dave502d]

2. How long before they take her out. n/t

[Maat]

3. He probably got her the heck out of there..

to protect her. Since she seems unimportant, they'll probably leave her alone.

[AlCzervik]

4. Depends on if she can keep her mouth shut or not

i bet she'll end up in Europe somewhere.

[Scairp]

24. They have a child

That child is the one who may be in danger, not her.

[donheld]

5. Anybody who's slept with Arafat

deserves a life of luxury in paris. Can you imagine having to kiss this

[barb162]

13. hilarious! I always thought he was such a dog-face

[barb162]

14. yeah he is a dog face but then she had a kid with him, but

then again she moved to Paris the last 3 yrs.

[Catshrink]

6. Where does the money come from?

[Zynx]

7. Old Fattie is worth between .3 and 1.3 billion, depending on who you ask.

That's a lot of dough.

[FuzzySlippers]

10. How did Arafat get all that money?

It's really disturbing that he grew so rich while there was so much poverty among the Palestinian people

[Zynx]

12. One of the reasons the Palestinians are poor.

Everyone agrees that he stole metric shitloads from his own people through all sorts of schemes. Remember, he was running the PLO, and then the PA, and thus in charge of where all those checks from international organizations and rich oil sheiks got spent.

This is not a good guy here.

[DrWeird]

15. Yeah, Arafat really lived the good life. Bling bling.

I hear he had his swimming pool filled with Krystal while buggering young boy and eating cuban sandwichs.

:eyes:

[Zynx]

16. Hey, talk to Forbes if you don't like the estimate.

They put him at around 340 million, IIRC. The Israelis generally give the numbers in the billions but either way, almost every bit of it is ill-gotten. It's not like the Palestinians are sitting on oil wells.

[Catshrink]

11. Holy Moly!

Where did it come from? Corruption? Embezzlement? Legitimate means? That IS a lot of dough!

[barb162]

17. where he stole the money? from wikipedia.org

"In 2003 a team of American accountants - hired by Arafat's own finance ministry - began examing Arafat's finances. The team determined that part of the Palestinian leader's wealth was in a secret portfolio worth close to $1 billion -- with investments in companies like a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ramallah, a Tunisian cell phone company and venture capital funds in the U.S. and the Cayman Islands. The head of the investigation stated that "although the money for the portfolio came from public funds like Palestinian taxes, virtually none of it was used for the Palestinian people; it was all controlled by Arafat. And none of these dealings were made public". Arafat appears to use his wealth to improve his standing and influence; he has always lived frugally, and continues to do so.<15> (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/07/60minutes/main582487.shtml)

In 2003 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conducted an audit of the Palestinian Authority and stated that Arafat diverted $900 million in public funds to a special bank account controlled by Arafat and the PA Chief Economic Financial Advisor. The IMF did not claim that there were any improprieties and it specifically stated that most of the funds have been used to invest in Palestinian assets, both internally and abroad. <16> (http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1958.shtml)

An investigation by European Union of claims of misuse of EU funds by the Palestinian Authority has, until now, found no evidence EU funds being diverted to terrorist activities. However, the EU has insisted on "deepening reform in the PA and improving its financial management and audit capacities" as "the best preventive strategy against the misuse of funds and corruption in the PA", and has made further funding contingent on these reforms <17> (http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/mepp/faq/index.htm#Allegations%20of%20misuse%20of%20EU%20funds) According to "Forbes", the new PA Finance Minister is tasked with reviewing PA finances, which may result in weakening of Arafat's control over them."

[BOHICA06]

23. Us ... mainly

as in the US. Economic assistance and play nice funding ... turned Gaza into a F-ing paradise.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

8. Arafat liked boys

That was a well-known fact in the intelligence community. That "marriage" was for show.

[barb162]

18. I didn't know that. Wonder if any boys liked him back (yuck

from a female)

[Judi Lynn]

21. Too bad the intelligence community didn't know how to keep

_Bush from raping Iraq and totally misrepresenting the facts to the world.

[DrWeird]

9. Boy, there's a lot of mature posts in this thread.

It's a real intellectual blockbuster.

[Must_B_Free]

19. yeah really

who are these people?

[DrWeird]

20. I/P nutjobs.

They occasionally come up to the surface like Morlocks.

[southlandshari]

22. THIS is LBN?

Arafat's death, yes. His non-relationship with Suha (which was never LBN before, despite being public knowledge for years), no.