[Opinion] Arafat and Money

Palestine Authority President Yasser Arafat was a man who used to say, “I am married to Palestine.” He spent his whole life in the armed fight for liberation, but in 1990 he held a secretive marriage ceremony with a woman 34 years his junior at the age of over 60. He had fallen head over heels with this woman who came to him as a freelance reporter. Happiness did not last long. Leaving the words, “I cannot go to the hospital in the Gaza Strip because of the bad sanitary conditions,” she left for France to give birth to a daughter, and has been staying in a luxurious hotel for 10 years. Arafat sent $100,000 to his wife every month.

There are endless rumors about Suha Al-Taweel. Some are guessing she prevented Arafat’s aides from coming close and pressed him to reveal his secret accounts before dying. Al-Taweel has been pointed out as a factor of “Arafat corruption” and is being investigated by French police on charges of money laundering. Even Arafat, who was called the symbol of Palestine, or a terrorist, must have been weak when it came to love.

Arafat’s older sister reminisces, “As a boy, Arafat was the boss and hit Arab children who would not follow his orders.” This is a boast of his leadership, but Israel’s analysis is that Arafat’s real “source of power” was money. Donations from Arab nations and even the U.S., taxes from Palestine, and illegally obtained money are estimated to be between $200 million (estimated by “Forbes”) and $6 billion (estimated by American and Israeli intelligence agencies). With this money Arafat was said to have maintained a powerful secret police force and bought the loyalty of his aides.

It is true that money is needed in the fight for liberation. Also, one’s achievements should not be defaced because of his faults. One accountant testified at CBS TV’s “60 Minutes” two years ago that “Arafat has no money to use for the Palestinian people.” How was one who claimed to have slept in a bed as small as the kind used by soldiers able to own hotels and resorts in Spain and France? Could he have been happy after receiving a tax rebate from Israel after the Oslo Peace Accord and putting that money under his name in a Tel Aviv bank? Arafat once said in an interview with “Radio Palestine” that, “War is a dream, peace is a nightmare.” To Arafat, Palestine’s tragedy was both his sorrow and his gold. Who said absolute power never deteriorates?

Kim Sun-duk, Editorial Writer, yuri@donga.com