In the Wilmington News-Journal, Howard Berlin contends that world donors will take PA fundraising efforts more seriously when they stop subsidizing the lavish lifestyle of Suha Arafat (pictured):
Mrs. Arafat has virtually nothing in common with the Palestinians who suffer because of theft of funds and fiscal mismanagement. For much of her married life she was a pampered princess, living with her mother and young daughter in Paris, away from her husband. Before purchasing an expensive villa on the Rue Fauborg St. Honore, she occupied a 19-room suite for more than a year at the five-star Bristol Hotel in Paris that goes for about $16,000 a night, paid for by the Palestinian Authority. While her husband wore his trademark army uniform and kafiyah, she shopped for French designer clothes.
The financial sources of Mrs. Arafat’s lifestyle didn’t escape the attention of the France either. She was questioned about the receipt of $11.4 million from Swiss accounts controlled by her between 2002 and 2003.
And there is a reported allowance of $22 million annually from the Palestinian Authority for the rest of Mrs. Arafat’s life, approved by Mahmoud Abbas and then-Prime Minister Ahmed Queria in 2004.
With all this Palestinian money squandered and stolen by one of their own, Palestinian Health Minister Bassem Naim recently had the chutzpah to appeal for $4.3 million for health care in the Palestinian territories to prevent a “humanitarian and health disaster.”
Readers might also recall Mrs. Arafat’s efforts to transfer $20 million…..
UPDATE 6/4: The Jerusalem Post reports that Mahmoud Abbas and Mrs. Arafat had a meeting of reconciliation at her Tunis villa. No word yet on what financial matters were raised.
