Doc's Talk: Where did all the money go?

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Where did all the money go?

Comment:The following is from an Arab paper.

How did Suha Arafat amass all these millions? - From Khalid Amayreh in Occupied East Jerusalem There have been consistent reports that Suha Arafat, widow of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, has withdrawn tens of millions of dollars’ worth of investment from Tunis, prompting the Tunisian authorities to strip her of the Tunisian citizenship.

Some news agency reported this week that Suha’s investments in Tunisia were estimated to be in the vicinity of $40 million.

Well-connected sources in Ramallah have intimated that Suha Arafat “inherited” hundreds of millions of dollars registered under her deceased husband’s name in several European banks. The vast bulk of the money is believed to have belonged to Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

This writer sought to raise this subject with several Palestinian officials in Ramallah.

The officials agreed to speak rather reluctantly and only on condition of “anonymity” citing the “sensitivity of the subject.”

I spoke to one veteran official in Ramallah, who I was told is responsible for dealing with “the issues of administrative and financial corruption.”

The man didn’t ask for anonymity, but I have opted to not mention his name lest he be physically harmed by the gurus of corruption or fired from his job.

M.A. (his initials) said he was well aware of the “subject” and would love to see “real journalists dig for the truth.”

“You know and I know that this is the Palestinian people’s money. These millions didn’t belong to Yasser Arafat, they belong to the Palestinian people. Besides, the fact that these millions were embezzled or arrogated four or five years ago doesn’t mean that it is hopeless or too late to set the record straight.

“On the other hand, we can’t just indict Suha Arafat or anybody else based on rumors and unsubstantiated reports.”

M.A. said the first culprit in this issue is the Palestinian Legislative Council, which he said should have placed the subject on the top of its agenda from the very inception.

“I don’t know why they didn’t discuss the subject. I think the failure to discuss this paramount matter amounted to a breach of trust and betrayal of the people.”

I confronted Hasan Khreishe, deputy-speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, with these serious accusations and asked him what he knew about Suha Arafat’s alleged millions.

Khreishe, speaking cautiously and circumspectly, said the legislative council didn’t start an investigation into Suha Arafat’s wealth because “we didn’t have credible evidence warranting launching an investigation.”

I asked the veteran MP, who in 2003 headed the investigation of so-called cement scandal, if he knew the fate of PLO secret accounts and investment schemes in Palestine and abroad, Khreishe said he didn’t know much and the little he knew came from the media.

Asked if he thought the Palestinian government should seek to obtain information from foreign governments, including the Tunisian government, as to details of bank accounts belonging to Arafat’s widow, Khreishe said “this the government’s business, not ours.”

When further asked if he would press the Palestinian government to ask foreign governments for information on Suha Arafat’s financial details, Khreishe sought to evade the question, saying that “this matter is more judicial than legislative", and that the ball was in the media’s court to produce concrete evidence incriminating Suha Arafat.

“Two hundred million of dollars”

Very few people were aware of Yasser Arafat’s financial assets during his lifetime. One of these was Muhammed Rashid, the late Palestinian leader’s economic advisor, who is now living in Cairo.

Rashid has consistently refused to give details of Arafat’s secret bank accounts and other assets, saying he would report only to the Palestinian Authority.

According to an al Jazeera report a few years ago, Arafat had written a will leaving some of his fortune to his wife and their daughter, Zahwa. However, other reports said Arafat left no will, leaving most of his fortune in the hands of Rashid and Suha. However, it is uncertain if Rashid behaved single-mindedly with Arafat’s financial empire, or if he “settled things” quietly with Suha following Arafat’s death.

At the time of his death, Arafat’s assets were estimated at $200 million by the Forbes magazine. Forbes listed him ninth in its ranking of the world’s wealthiest heads of state, even though he was a ruler without a country and many of his people were (are) suffering from abject poverty. Other sources, including the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), put Arafat’s fortune at $6 billion dollars, a figure exaggerated according to several PLO figures I have talked to.

Suha Tawil, 30 years younger than Arafat, married the PLO leader in 1992 in Tunisia where she worked for the PLO headquarters in Tunis. Suha returned with Arafat to Gaza where the couple lived alternately in Gaza and Ramallah. However, in 2001, she took their child, Zahwa, to Paris, where they continued to live until the late 2005, when they moved to Tunis.

Suha lived a lavish and luxurious life in the French capital where it was rumored that the money she spent per month would cover the basic needs of five thousand Palestinian refugees in a place like Jabalya in the Gaza Strip.

In 2004, the French authorities began investigating the transfer of $11.5 million from Swiss bank accounts to accounts in France controlled by Suha Arafat.

Then Suha reportedly lambasted the French authorities for ordering the investigation.

“What is so strange for the Palestinian president to send any amount of money to his family and his wife, who is protecting the Palestinian interests abroad, and the money came and will come legally,” Suha was quoted as saying during an interview with the London-based Saudi-financed al Hayat Arabic newspaper.

Following Arafat’s death in November 2004, and wishing to settle “the problem” with Suha quietly, Palestinian Authority leaders, e.g. Fatah leaders, reportedly struck a deal with Suha whereby she agreed to receive a large amount of Arafat’s fortune as well as a monthly stipend of tens of thousands of dollars for the rest of her life, all in return for shutting her mouth.

While the exact details of Suha’s present fortune are still not known, it is very likely that the bulk of her assets have been arrogated from monies that belonged to the Palestinian people. Suha was not known as a businesswoman and she didn’t hail from a particularly rich family. Her mother, Rimonda Tawil published a weekly magazine in East Jerusalem, called al Awda, which was financed by the PLO. And she inherited very few assets from her father.

So, how did she amass all this wealth, all these hundreds of millions of dollars?

In simple English, it seems we are talking about a huge theft by every conceivable standard of logic. I know that a suspect is innocent until proven guilty. However, it this case, the guilt screams to the seventh haven. People don’t just make hundreds of millions that easily and in such a short period of time.

Besides Yasser Arafat’s bank accounts, secret or otherwise, didn’t belong to him personally but to the Palestinian people.

More to the point, the late Palestinian leader, with all due respect to his struggle for freedom and statehood, had no right to leave hundreds of millions or tens of millions of dollars to his wife and daughter. These millions were not his. They belonged to the people.

Hence, it is imperative that the Palestinian society raise the issue and exert meaningful pressure on government officials so that they immediately order a full and comprehensive investigation into Suha Arafat’s finances.

The people of Palestine have every right to know where every cent of Suha’s millions came from, and if a genuine investigation is carried out and incriminating evidence is obtained, then the PA will have to seek her extradition so that she will stand trial for corruption and embezzlement of the Palestinian people’s money.

This is test case not only for the Palestinian resolve to fight corruption, but also for the seriousness of our quest for independence and statehood.

After all, corrupt politicians who cover up corruption and protect the grand thieves can’t be entrusted with the fate of the people and the country.

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Khalid Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist living in East Jerusalem.

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk