Suha Arafat, wife of ailing PLO leader Yasser Arafat, is looking to delay as long as possible the announcement of her husband’s death to bide time while she tries to negotiate for herself a large inheritance, Israeli sources told WorldNetDaily.
Meanwhile, a team of PLO leaders, including Prime Minister Ahmad Qureia, former Prime Minister Abu Mazen, and Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, arrived in Paris late last night, and many expect them to officially declare Arafat dead within the next 48 hours.
Suha, who lives in Paris and rarely ever saw her husband until ten days ago, accused the Palestinian leaders of making the trip to “bury alive” the gravely ill PLO leader. In a call to al-Jazeera from Yasser’s bedside, she said: “Let it be known to the honest Palestinian people that a bunch of those who want to inherit are coming to Paris.”
“You have to realize the size of the conspiracy. I tell you they are trying to bury Abu Amar [Arafat] alive. He is fine and he is going home,” said Suha.
She said she would not remove Arafat from life-support, but then claimed he is in good condition in spite of announcements from Palestinian spokesmen and French hospital officials that Arafat is not expected to awaken from his coma.
Following Suha’s outburst, the Palestinian team scheduled to visit Arafat at first said they would postpone their visit, but later reconsidered and arrived in Paris this morning.
Palestinian officials have been increasingly infuriated at what they see as Suha’s monopoly of control over access to Yasser Arafat’s bedside and over the information she has restricted the medical staff from announcing to the media.
Bassam Abu Sharif, a long-time aide of Yasser Arafat told reporters yesterday Suha “has no right to interfere in politics or to insult the leadership. Yasser Arafat’s family is the Palestinian people, not Suha Arafat.”
Security sources say Suha is seeking to ensure herself a large inheritance after her husband’s death, and is delaying as long as possible the publication of his actual health status while negotiations with key PLO financial figures commence. They say she’s hired a team of French lawyers to help her gain access to Arafat’s fortune, which is said to be in accounts spread around the world.
Earlier last week, while he was still awake, Suha requested that her husband draft a will leaving his multimillion dollar fortune to her, but Arafat refused, WorldNetDaily reported.
“The president [Arafat] told her he had no plans of dying, and also said that his money would be well cared for,” a Palestinian source close to Arafat told WorldNetDaily at the time. “He rejected her request.”
Arafat is said to be worth hundreds of millions or possibly billions, mostly from money Israel says he secretly shifted to bank accounts in his name by allegedly plundering financial aid sent to help a battered West Bank and Gaza economy over the years.
Forbes calculates Arafat, who comes in sixth behind Queen Elizabeth II in a list of wealthy world leaders, has a net worth of $300 million. Some Israelis believe Arafat’s personal wealth may be as much as $11 billion, although in testimony to the Knesset last year Israel’s chief of military intelligence, Aharon Zeevi, listed Arafat’s personal assets at more than $1.3 billion.
Arafat also has millions invested in real estate, Middle East phone companies and a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ramallah, where the PA chairman’s shattered compound lies.
Israel has accused Arafat of using some of his personal fortune to finance terror attacks against Israelis, and experts are worried that upon his demise, his fortune might be made available to Palestinian terror organizations for further attacks against Israelis.
Qureia would only say recent outbursts by “our sister” Suha – with whom any final decision on whether to switch off Yasser Arafat’s life support is presumed to lie – were “unfortunate.”
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