Yasser Arafat Dead Terrorism

Terrorist Arafat Dead, Peace Possible for Israel, Palestinians

Arafat's terrorism was directly responsible for the murder of
thousands of innocent civilians in Israel, Jordan and Lebanon.

Jerusalem----November 11....Yasser Arafat, who was responsible for creating modern methods of mass terrorism, died in a French hospital today. Arafat, who was born in Egypt in 1929, had murdered thousands of Israelis, Jordanians, Americans, Christian Lebanese and his own people over several decades.

Best known for speaking peace in English while calling for Islamic Jihad (holy war) in Arabic, Arafat had walked away from a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians at Camp David. The Camp David Accords, which were coordinated by former US President Bill Clinton, would have provided the Palestinians with half of Jerusalem, 97 percent of the West Bank and all of Gaza. Arafat, who had clearly chosen terrorism and war over peace and prosperity for both Palestinians and Israelis, was seen as irrelevant by the present Israeli government and by the Bush administration.

Arafat died at 3:30 a.m. in a French military hospital. The master terrorist, who had turned the hijacking of passenger airplanes into an art form, was flown to France on Oct. 29.

He initially improved but then sharply deteriorated as rumors swirled about his illness. Neither doctors nor Palestinian leaders would say what killed Arafat. Many doctors familiar with how Arafat had died said that he had many of the symptoms of AIDS.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians poured into the streets of the Gaza Strip in a spontaneous show of grief. Dozens of terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Arafat own terror group - Fatah fired into the air, with marchers waving Palestinian flags. Most Palestinians had contempt for Arafat, who was famous for his corruption and for funneling millions of dollars of humanitarian aid from the US and the EU into private bank accounts in Switzerland and France. Arafat's wife Suha, is now under investigation by both French authorities and the Bank of France for money laundering.

Mosques blared Koranic verses and children burned tires on the main streets, covering the skies in black smoke. People pasted posters of Arafat on building walls.

Palestinian Parliament Speaker Rauhi Fattouh was to be sworn in as Palestinian Authority president until elections are held in 60 days, according to Palestinian law. Officials said they want to ensure a smooth transition, despite uncertainty and a behind-the-scenes power struggle to assume the Arafat mantle.

President Bush, who never met Arafat and gave Israel a green light to keep Arafat isolated, issued a statement of condolence to the Palestinian people.

"We express our condolences to the Palestinian people. For the Palestinian people, we hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfillment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors," the president said.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Arafat and assassinated Israeli leader Yitzak Rabin, said: "The biggest mistake of Arafat was when he turned to terror. His greatest achievements were when he tried to build peace."

Palestinian flags at Arafat's battered Ramallah compound were lowered to half staff. Television broadcast excerpts from the Quran with a picture of Arafat in the background.

"He closed his eyes and his big heart stopped. He left for God but he is still among this great people," said senior Arafat aide Tayeb Abdel Rahim, who broke into tears as he announced Arafat's death.

"President Arafat was one of those few leaders who could be instantly recognized by people in any walk of life all around the world. For nearly four decades, he expressed and symbolized in his person the national aspirations of the Palestinian people."

"President Arafat came to symbolize the Palestinian national movement. ... (and) led his people to an historic acceptance and the need for a two-state solution," Blair said.

Top Palestinian officials flew in to check on their leader while Arafat's 41-year-old wife, Suha, publicly accused them of trying to usurp his powers. Ordinary Palestinians prayed for his well being, but expressed deep frustration over his failure to improve their lives.

Arafat's failure to groom a successor complicated his passing, raising the danger of factional conflict among Palestinian terror groups.

A visual constant in his checkered keffiyeh headdress, Arafat kept the Palestinians' cause at the center of the Arab-Israeli conflict. But he fell short of creating a Palestinian state, and, along with other secular Arab leaders of his generation, he saw his influence weakened by the rise of radical Islam in recent years.

Revered by his own people, Arafat was reviled by others. Many Israelis felt the paunchy 5-foot, 2-inch Palestinian's real goal remained the destruction of the Jewish state. Arafat wore a map patch of Israel on his left coat shoulder, illustrating his aim for the total elimination of Israel.

Arafat became one of the world's most familiar faces after addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York in 1974, when he entered the chamber wearing a holster and carrying a sprig. "Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun," he said. "Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."

Two decades later, he shook hand at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on a peace deal that formally recognized Israel's right to exist while granting the Palestinians limited self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The pact led to the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for Arafat, Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

But the accord quickly unraveled amid mutual suspicions and accusations of treaty violations, and a new round of violence that erupted in the fall of 2000 has killed some 4,000 people, three-quarters of them Palestinian.

The Israel and U.S. governments said Arafat deserved much of the blame for the derailing of the peace process. Even many of his own people began whispering against Arafat, expressing disgruntlement over corruption, lawlessness and a bad economy in the Palestinian areas.

A resilient survivor of war with Israel, assassination attempts and even a plane crash, Arafat was born Rahman Abdel-Raouf Arafat Al-Qudwa on Aug. 4, 1929, the fifth of seven children of a Palestinian merchant killed in the 1948 war over Israel's creation.

Educated as an engineer in Egypt, Arafat served in the Egyptian army and then started a contracting firm in Kuwait. It was there that he founded the Fatah movement, which became the core of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

After the Arabs' humbling defeat by Israel in the six-day war of 1967, the PLO attempted to take over the Jordanian government in a 1971 coup now known as "Black September." Arafat's terrorism thrust itself on the world's front pages when he sent Palestinian terrorists out to hijack airplanes, machine gun airports and seize Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics.

On September 1, 1970, an attempt by Arafat to kill the Jordanian king failed. On September 6, three planes were hijacked by PFLP: a SwissAir and a TWA in Zarqa and a BOAC in Cairo, on September 9, a British Airways plane at Amman, the passengers were held hostage. The PFLP announced that the hijackings was designed "to teach the Americans a lesson because of their long-standing support of Israel". The planes were demonstratively blown up in front of TV cameras. Directly confronting and angering the King, the rebels declared Irbid area a "liberated region".

On September 16, King Hussein declared martial law. The next day, Jordanian tanks (the 60th armored brigade) attacked the headquarters of Palestinian organizations in Amman; the army attacked also camps in Irbid, Salt, Sweileh and Zarqa. Then the head of Pakistani training mission to Jordan, General Zia ul Hak, took command of the 2nd division.

The armored troops were inefficient in narrow city streets, and after first casualties they resorted to unobserved shelling. Soon, many city blocks were left with no electricity, food or water. Some Palestinians deserted from the Jordanian army. Brigadier Bajahat Muhaisein (a Jordanian who had a Palestinian wife) quit.

On September 18, Syrian armored forces began invasion into Jordan. In three days, with support of Palestine Liberation Army, they were the size of a division and were met by the 40th armored brigade of Jordanian army. In addition to diplomatic efforts, as a sign of warning, Israel Air Force planes made low over flights.

Soon Syrian troops began to withdraw. Hafez al-Assad, the Syrian defense minister at the time, later told that Syria invaded Jordan in order to protect the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, both Hussein and Arafat attended the meeting of leaders of Arab countries in Cairo and on September 27 Hussein signed an agreement that treated both sides as equals and acknowledged the right of the Palestinian organizations to operate in Jordan. The next day, Egypt's Nasser died of a sudden heart attack.

Estimates of the number Palestinians killed in the ten days of Black September range from five to over ten thousand, although exact numbers are unknown. The reporters were concentrated at the Intercontinental hotel, away from the action. Major radio stations, BBC Arabic service and Voice of the Arabs from Cairo were both pro-Palestinian and reported alleged genocide.

The situation in Syria became unstable and soon Hafez al-Assad overthrew the civilian government and became the ruler of Syria.

On October 31, Arafat whose position was weakened, had to sign another agreement (similar to one of November 1968) that returned control over Jordan to the King, requiring the dismantlement of Palestinian militant bases and banning their members from carrying unconcealed weapons. At a meeting of the Palestinian National Council that followed, both PFLP and DFLP groups refused to accept this agreement and instead, accepted the proposal that Jordan would be a part of a Palestinian state to replace both Jordan and Israel.

The violations continued and on November 9, Jordanian prime minister Wafsi al-Tal signed an order to confiscate illegal weapons. By January 1971, the army strengthened its control over the cities. Another agreement regarding surrendering weapons was signed and broken. After the discovery of illegal arms warehouse in Irbid in the Spring, the army placed a curfew and began arresting the rebels. On June 5, several leading Palestinian organizations including Arafat's Fatah, called on Radio Baghdad to overthrew King Hussein as the only way to prevent "a peace agreement between Israel and Jordan".

The army regained control over the last remaining rebel strongholds, mountainous cities of Jerash and Ajloun. As King Hussein declared "absolute quiet" in the kingdom, Fatah members announced that they prefer to die rather than surrender. Seventy-two (some sources cite two hundred) of fleeing Palestinian terrorists chose to cross the Jordan river to West Bank and surrender to the Israel Defense Forces. Arafat fled to Lebanon.

Both Israelis and Palestinians warmly welcomed Arafat's departure. The Israelis are seeking a peace partner while impoverished Palestinians are furious over Arafat's financial corruption. It was revealed a few months back that one of Arafat's generals was pocketing 2 million dollars every month from EU aid money which was supposed to go to 7,000 fictitious Palestinian policemen.

Asked by Israel's Haaretz newspaper whether Arafat and Nasrallah were targets for assassination, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon recently said: "I wouldn't suggest that either of them feel immune ... Anyone who kills a Jew or harms an Israeli citizen or sends people to kill Jews is a marked man. Period."

Israel's army chief, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, had made veiled threats against Arafat and Nasrallah, after Israel assassinated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin. However, at the time, security officials said privately that there were no immediate plans to target the two.

Sharon told Maariv Arafat "has no insurance policy." He added that "today, everyone knows Arafat is the obstacle (blocking) any peace progress." But it was not an Israeli bullet which finally led to Arafat's demise, it was the failing health of an old man.

Sharon repeatedly has accused Arafat of involvement in attacks on Israelis, saying he encourages and finances terrorism.
In September of 2003, Israel's Cabinet decided Arafat should be "removed," an intentionally vague statement that could mean he would be expelled or killed. However, Israel never acted on the threat.

For more than two years, Israel has confined Arafat to his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Throwing stones? Under Arafat, 50 tons of explosives and weapons
were captured by the IDF on the Iranian-Palestinian terror ship the "Karin-A"

As Yasser Arafat spent hours telling the world media that the "Palestinian Terror Ship" the Karin-A was mere propaganda and that he was not responsible in any manner, the Captain of the ship told a news conference that the PA was directly involved from ownership, purchasing of weapons to logistics.

In response to Arafat's initial denials, Israeli government spokesman Raanan Gissin dismissed Arafat's announcement as contrived. "In the face of the unequivocal evidence, what can they do?" he said.

The Israel Defense Forces announced that IDF commandos seized the terror ship in the Red Sea on Thursday and found 50 tons of weapons on board, valued at over $100 million, destined for the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip.

The ship's Palestinian captain told reporters in the Israeli jail where he was being held that a Palestinian Authority official had given him his orders for the arms shipment.

Israeli officials said that the ship's cargo included long-range rockets of the Katyusha type, which have been fired at Israel from Lebanon in the past.

The captain of the ship, Gaza Strip native Omar Akkawi, told reporters his handler was Palestinian Authority official Adel Awadallah. Israeli security sources said Awadallah was a senior arms purchaser for the Palestinian Authority.
Despite objections from the Shin Bet security agency, Akawi, who said he was a naval traffic adviser to the PA Transportation Ministry, was interviewed in Ashkelon Prison by Israel TV Channel 1, Channel 2, Fox TV, and Reuters at the request of the Prime Minister's Office.

There was no immediate comment from Palestinian Authority officials on Akkawi's statements or on what position, if any, Awadallah held in the organization.

Israel said the vessel, the Karine-A, had been under Palestinian command and bound for Gaza with Arafat's complicity. With the ship as a backdrop, Sharon told a news conference on Sunday that Arafat was an enemy of Israel.

"The (Palestinian) leadership, I don't think that they know something... maybe they know from him (Awadallah). From my side, I don't think they know," Akkawi said on Monday.

"The weapons were going to be used... for the Palestinian people to protect themselves," he said.
"The weapons were a donation by the Islamic world to the Palestinian people... from Iran, Hizbullah," he said.

Akkawi described himself as a "fighter", as a member of Fatah since 1976.
He said the entire operation was supervised and overseen by PA official Adel Awadallah, also known as Adel Mugrhabi, based in Greece. He gave him instructions and allegedly purchased the freighter for $400,000. He said he has no knowledge of Awadallah's whereabouts.

According to the plan, he was to have anchored opposite Alexandria in Egypt, where he was to unload the weapons onto two smaller vessels. Off El Arish, they were to be transferred to three small boats, which were to drop the special containers, designed to float just under the surface and marked with buoys, into the sea off the Gaza Strip.

"It was first [likely] to be discovered by the Americans in the Gulf areas because they are... alerted for fighting terror," he said. "If it passed from there, the Israelis would come in the Red Sea. Otherwise, the Egyptians would find it, because in the Suez Canal they check everything."

He said Israel Navy commandos raided the boat at 4:45 a.m, when most of the crew was asleep. He said he heard a noise, but thought it was due to a technical failure. Then he opened his eyes and was confronted with armed men.

Sharon stated that once Israel completes its West Bank security fence, Palestinians living illegally in Israel will be expelled. He said tens of thousands of them are in Israeli Arab villages. Regarding the Gaza withdrawal, Sharon said it was in Israel's interest. "We need to get out of Gaza, not to be responsible anymore for what happens there," he said.

An examination this week of the payrolls of the Palestinian Authority's National Security force, considered the largest of the Palestinian security forces, commanded by General Haj Ismail Jabber, has revealed that salaries for 7,000 fictitious troopers were being paid into his pocket every month.

The salaries for police at the lower ranks range from $300-400 a month, which means that some $2 million a month from PA funds was being paid to the general.

For the past eight months the EU, US and other donor countries have been demanding the Palestinian Authority stop the practice of handing over the cash payrolls of the security services to the commanders of each of the separate forces, for them to hand out as pay to their subordinates.

The donor countries have been demanding PA Finance Minister Salam Fayyad cease the corruption, and indeed, during the government of Mahmoud Abbas, troops from parts of the Preventive Security force, the police and civil defense units were paid through direct payments into their bank accounts. According to Abbas, some 22 percent of the Palestinian police were paid that way during his term.

But over the same period Haj Imsail, backed by Yasser Arafat, refused to provide a list of his troops, which led to clashes with Fayyad, including attacks on the PA's treasury offices in Gaza.

Stepped-up pressure on Fayyad by donor humanitarian aid countries to come up with the full payroll lists, combined with a PA budget deficit in the hundreds of millions of dollars that makes the PA desperate for the donations, led a few days ago to the transfer to the PA treasury of a diskette with the full list of names of people receiving salaries from Haj Ismail. And there, it turned out that while Haj Ismail was claiming salaries for 37,000 people, there were only 30,000 on the list.

In addition, it turned out that Haj Ismail was receiving the salaries for Palestinian policemen according to the exchange rate used in Israel, around NIS 4.5 to the dollar, while he paid his troops according to NIS 3.7 to the dollar, a rate used by the PA. That gap meant another half a million dollars a month went into his pocket. On Thursday, for the first time, the National Security forces will be paid their March salaries through their bank accounts instead of in cash. And Haj Ismail's secret extra salary will cease flowing to him.

The European Union has poured an astonishing 4 billion dollars into Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority (PA) since 1993. Together with contributions from the UK, the US and other individual countries, this, according to a leading World Bank official, is the largest per capita transfer of aid funds ever. But while evidence of high-level corruption within the PA is clearer than ever before, Brussels persists in claiming that it sees reform; its efforts to change the PA are "paying off".

Any serious analysis of the money reaching the PA necessarily begins with Chris Patten. As EU Commissioner for External Relations, he has spearheaded a policy of far-reaching tolerance towards his Palestinian beneficiaries. "We have done more to reform the PA than anybody else ... reinforced transparency in finances … and the adoption of the Law on the Judiciary", Patten has claimed. The true picture is deeply depressing. While the average Palestinian wallows in poverty, and terrorism against Israel created by the Palestinians shows no sign of let-up, their leadership shows few visible signs of financial distress. Where has the investment gone.

Mohammed Dahlan, one of the inner circle of PA powerbrokers, throws some light on the question: "Those who are surrounding Arafat are blocking internal reforms," he explained last month. Hardly surprising. It is no secret that the PLO was established in the 1960s under KGB guidelines. Four decades later, the same terrorist leadership remains in power, advocates terrorism against Israel, blames Israel for all of the Palestinian's problems while enjoying the fruits of a much richer economic climate. Consider that Nabil Shaath, the PA’s current foreign minister, was cited back in 1997 for financial mismanagement. Today, he owns a super-luxury villa in the middle of Gaza.

Suha Arafat, the wife of Yassar Arafat, lives in ostentatious luxury in Paris with her mother and staff, funded from EU-provided budgets.

Arafat’s hand-picked prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, came under investigation as the owner of a cement company that supplies Israel with material for building settlements and its reviled security fence.

The IMF, in a September 2003 report, revealed that hundreds of millions have been misappropriated and pointed to major structural deficiencies within the PA’s Ministry of Finance.

Then there’s the lawlessness. The mayor of Nablus, Ghassan Shakaa, resigned last month in protest at the absence of progress in dealing with unsolved rapes and unpunished crime. In some towns, rival terror militias, such as Arafat’s Al-Aksa Brigades, compete for control of the streets. As for democracy, Palestinians have often reasoned that elections could not be held since 2000 because of Israel’s reaction to the Intifada. In fact, Fatah’s Revolutionary Council was elected into office more than 15 years ago.

It’s not hard to understand why the EU officials repeatedly raise the flag of reform. It spares them from having to face up to the minimal return on their huge investment. New villas in Ramallah and Gaza are the few visible signs of donor money having passed through town. The European Commission money managers must be seeing this. Otherwise, how do we explain their recently revised strategy of channelling aid into Palestinian NGOs instead of directly to the PA. Yet most Palestinian NGOs are connected to the PA leadership. Some have been caught engaging in corrupt practices or working outside their stated charters.

Consider LAW - a Palestinian human rights agency. Only after some $2m of European taxpayers’ money ended up in private bank accounts, was an investigation started. Or the Palestinian Red Crescent Society - severely criticised by the International Red Cross for using ambulances to ferry terror weapons to be used against Israeli civilians. The Negotiation Support Unit runs activities that directly contradict UK national policy.

European money plays a very significant role in the events affecting the Palestinians. The taxpayer deserves now to see a better use of the money. The average Palestinian needs to see it arriving.

With Arafat's death, a new dawn has arrived for both Israel and the Palestinians. Israel has taken several concrete steps for implementing a real and lasting peace, including a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.
The opportunity for peace and prosperity for both peoples is now a reality, if the Palestinians can unite in finding and supporting a true peace partner.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today that Yasser Arafat's death could be a "turning point" for the Middle East if the new Palestinian leadership were to "wage a war on terror."

"The latest events are likely to present a historic turning point in the Middle East," Sharon told reporters at his office. He said Israel would "continue its efforts to reach a political settlement with the Palestinians, without delay."

He said that progress towards peace would "depend first and foremost on a cessation of terrorism and if they (the Palestinian leaders) wage a war on terror."