"There will be peace in the Middle East when the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews." ? Golda Meir
In Suha Arafat's case, she must hate Jews more than she loves men who shave, bathe and speak with a reasonable measure of articulation.
The combination of Suha's physical appearance and choice in men brings two words to mind: mad cow. Yeah, I'll concede that's a sexist term, but how could I resist applying it to her? Long overdue, Suha is being subjected to a money-laundering investigation ? part of four developments that expose just how sleazy the Palestinian leadership can be. More importantly, these events raise serious questions about the Arab agenda.
As reported in the media, here is news of apparent Arab corruption:
1) The European Commission's Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has gone on record concluding that tens of millions of dollars that the European Union donated to Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority in humanitarian aid were diverted to terrorist acts against Israel. The Maariv News Service attributed this news to the German weekly Die Welt.
OLAF investigators accepted that documents recovered from the Palestinian Authority headquarters by Israeli military forces are genuine and evidence Arafat's widespread diversion of European Union humanitarian aid to terrorist operations that targeted Israeli civilians. This includes letters signed by Arafat ordering payments to 11 terrorist leaders for what he termed "guerilla operations". The OLAF agents were recently briefed by Israeli security officials in Jerusalem.
2) Suha is being investigated by French prosecutors after $11.4 million, which originated in Switzerland, ended up in bank accounts in Paris under her control between July 2002 and September 2003. French prosecutors stressed that they cannot file charges at this time because it has not been determined if the money came from illicit sources, according to the Associated Press. The investigation was first reported by Le Canard Enchaine, a French weekly satirical newspaper.
To take an educated guess, Arafat is sending his strange wife - er, estranged wife - the money to support her in a style that she accuses Jews of being accustomed to. Suha, now living in Paris, regularly rebuffed invitations to meet with wives of Israeli officials when she resided in Israel and and once said she would be proud if she had a son who became a suicide bomber. Since she has a daughter and no sons, she is conveniently off the hook.
3) If an Israeli television news report is correct, then Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia is not only a hypocrite, but a traitor to his people. Like other Arab officials, Qureia has decried the security barrier and West Bank settlements. However, the New York Daily News reported how television footage showed cement mixers leaving a company run by Qureia's family near Jerusalem and driving to the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, a few miles away, to supply cement for building the security barrier.
4) The Associated Press confirmed in a news story published on Wednesday (Feb. 18) that there had been no accountability whatsoever in the way security forces were paid. Arafat had been distributing lump sums of cash to senior security officers, and last Saturday, the Palestinian cabinet voted to pay members of the security forces directly. Arafat originally agreed to the change, but balked when he learned of the cabinet's vote.
It is no surprise that Arab leaders who blame Israel for the plight of the poor Palestinians are a bunch of crooks, some of whom make killing Jews a priority over helping their people better their lives. However, these developments make it semi-official.
The corruption alleged here cripples the credibility of the Palestinian cause to the point that one must ask: What cause? While Arab leaders complain that their children are starving, they are spending their money on a war machine and even profiting from Israel's security measures in response to this war machine.
It may be needless to mention that words such as viciousness, hypocrisy, lunacy, betrayal, treason and greed come to mind. Even those words comprise an understatement in describing the state of mind of the Arab officials.
I don't doubt that many Palestinians and even some of their leaders are sick of Arafat's corruption and want peace, but it is also apparent that many ordinary Arabs supported this war and made it possible for leaders like Arafat to maintain power.
Arafat never faced a serious challenge when he ran for election as leader of the Palestinian Authority, though this is probably somewhat attributable to fear among Arab political figures that they might die young if they ran against Arafat. Even so, Palestinians got their back up when President Bush insisted on new leadership. Their claim was that they did not like Bush dictating the composition of their leadership. If the Palestinians themselves dislike Arafat, why should they care? Under those circumstances, Bush was doing them a favor by trying to discredit Arafat.
Such corruption makes it nearly impossible to take the Arabs seriously any longer. Nobody in their right mind wants anyone to suffer, but certainly this conflict is not limited to the issue of poverty. Except insofar as some Arabs have found some ingenious methods of avoiding poverty.
In Suha Arafat's case, she must hate Jews more than she loves men who shave, bathe and speak with a reasonable measure of articulation.
The combination of Suha's physical appearance and choice in men brings two words to mind: mad cow. Yeah, I'll concede that's a sexist term, but how could I resist applying it to her? Long overdue, Suha is being subjected to a money-laundering investigation ? part of four developments that expose just how sleazy the Palestinian leadership can be. More importantly, these events raise serious questions about the Arab agenda.
As reported in the media, here is news of apparent Arab corruption:
1) The European Commission's Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has gone on record concluding that tens of millions of dollars that the European Union donated to Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority in humanitarian aid were diverted to terrorist acts against Israel. The Maariv News Service attributed this news to the German weekly Die Welt.
OLAF investigators accepted that documents recovered from the Palestinian Authority headquarters by Israeli military forces are genuine and evidence Arafat's widespread diversion of European Union humanitarian aid to terrorist operations that targeted Israeli civilians. This includes letters signed by Arafat ordering payments to 11 terrorist leaders for what he termed "guerilla operations". The OLAF agents were recently briefed by Israeli security officials in Jerusalem.
2) Suha is being investigated by French prosecutors after $11.4 million, which originated in Switzerland, ended up in bank accounts in Paris under her control between July 2002 and September 2003. French prosecutors stressed that they cannot file charges at this time because it has not been determined if the money came from illicit sources, according to the Associated Press. The investigation was first reported by Le Canard Enchaine, a French weekly satirical newspaper.
To take an educated guess, Arafat is sending his strange wife - er, estranged wife - the money to support her in a style that she accuses Jews of being accustomed to. Suha, now living in Paris, regularly rebuffed invitations to meet with wives of Israeli officials when she resided in Israel and and once said she would be proud if she had a son who became a suicide bomber. Since she has a daughter and no sons, she is conveniently off the hook.
3) If an Israeli television news report is correct, then Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia is not only a hypocrite, but a traitor to his people. Like other Arab officials, Qureia has decried the security barrier and West Bank settlements. However, the New York Daily News reported how television footage showed cement mixers leaving a company run by Qureia's family near Jerusalem and driving to the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, a few miles away, to supply cement for building the security barrier.
4) The Associated Press confirmed in a news story published on Wednesday (Feb. 18) that there had been no accountability whatsoever in the way security forces were paid. Arafat had been distributing lump sums of cash to senior security officers, and last Saturday, the Palestinian cabinet voted to pay members of the security forces directly. Arafat originally agreed to the change, but balked when he learned of the cabinet's vote.
It is no surprise that Arab leaders who blame Israel for the plight of the poor Palestinians are a bunch of crooks, some of whom make killing Jews a priority over helping their people better their lives. However, these developments make it semi-official.
The corruption alleged here cripples the credibility of the Palestinian cause to the point that one must ask: What cause? While Arab leaders complain that their children are starving, they are spending their money on a war machine and even profiting from Israel's security measures in response to this war machine.
It may be needless to mention that words such as viciousness, hypocrisy, lunacy, betrayal, treason and greed come to mind. Even those words comprise an understatement in describing the state of mind of the Arab officials.
I don't doubt that many Palestinians and even some of their leaders are sick of Arafat's corruption and want peace, but it is also apparent that many ordinary Arabs supported this war and made it possible for leaders like Arafat to maintain power.
Arafat never faced a serious challenge when he ran for election as leader of the Palestinian Authority, though this is probably somewhat attributable to fear among Arab political figures that they might die young if they ran against Arafat. Even so, Palestinians got their back up when President Bush insisted on new leadership. Their claim was that they did not like Bush dictating the composition of their leadership. If the Palestinians themselves dislike Arafat, why should they care? Under those circumstances, Bush was doing them a favor by trying to discredit Arafat.
Such corruption makes it nearly impossible to take the Arabs seriously any longer. Nobody in their right mind wants anyone to suffer, but certainly this conflict is not limited to the issue of poverty. Except insofar as some Arabs have found some ingenious methods of avoiding poverty.