Ding-Dong - Arafat's Demise

Tragedy is closely associated with death. There is almost always a friend or a relative or someone near to the deceased who feels bitter pain. Then again, I recall the lilting Wizard of Oz song "Ding-Dong the Witch is Dead" and realize that on rare occasions, and only when a really wicked witch dies, there can be celebration.

Without a doubt, Arafat's wife Suha is among those that feel the particular pain of her husband's demise. In fact, according to at least one report Suha is trying her best to keep her husband alive - but for more selfish reasons than just the pain at departing. Apparently, Arafat didn't transfer to her all of his money yet...

The problem is that Arafat is still the only Palestinian official who can pay the bills. And it is unclear who, if anyone, has access to the estimated $2-3 billion in his personal Swiss bank accounts, according to a report in the current edition of Geostrategy-Direct.com. Even his wife is said to be unaware of how to access the funds.

It has long been rumoured that Arafat had squirrelled away billions (see FrontPage's article on the IMF's own report):

This report was followed by news that in the period between July 2002 and September 2003, Arafat transferred $11.4 million to his wife, Suha's French bank accounts. But recent information reveals that in 1996, Suha Arafat arrived in Buenos Aires with $30 million in cash that she invested in a business with other Palestinians.

As of August 2002, Arafat's personal holdings also included $500 million of the PLO's money; in all, his holdings were reported at that time, to total $1.3 billion. This money is enough to a) feed 3 million Palestinians for 1 year, b) buy 1,000 mobile intensive care units, c) fund 10 hospitals for a decade, and d) would still leave $585 million to fund other social projects.

The mystery to me is how this man, great in the eyes of far too many, was able to maintain his credibility on the world stage. Arafat was known to have taken money from the mouth of his impoverished people and padded his nest. He, through his radical agenda, encouraged the dismal economic conditions that kept the Palestinian people destitute. Arafat was the greatest enemy that the Palestinians have ever had. Yet they loved him (in a way).

Arafat had the chutzpah to stand up to Israel, to America, and to the Western world. He thumbed his nose at the demands of the West for nearly forty years, and was at every turn reward by the West for doing so. Arafat ignored pleading by the West to acknowledge Israel's right to exist, he ignored their demands that he renounce violence, he ignored their insistance that he negotiate a peaceful settlement with the state he loathed. And at every turn, he was rewarded. He was given fantastic monetary grants - with no controls - from those he spurned (and no expectations, was there ever an investigation into Arafat's corruption?). There were higher expectations on Saddam Hussein than there were on Arafat. He was granted a Nobel peace prize for merely paying lip service to peace. He did nothing to relieve the suffering of his people - yet they loved him for standing up to the world and even more for his being rewarded for his obstinacy. It's like he was one of them and he won the lottery.

Arafat very literally profited from the misery he fostered among his people. He maintained his powerbase by keeping his people destitute and beholden to him.

We shall see if the West really loved Arafat. Will they want another to really take his place? Will his people really want another dictator to assume such absolute control over their plights? Real flattery for Arafat would be the broad acclaim of a successor that would be just like him.

Somehow, I doubt it... [and is that the faint tones of "ding-dong (something)..." I hear in the wind?]