Maybe that helps explain why there was never a successful peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians. As long as Arafat was king of the mountain (read dictator), he was in complete control. If there were ever to be an actual Palestine state with messy complications like others with some of the power and, Allah forbid, financial accountability, graft and baksheesh might become a whole lot harder to get a way with.

  Mrs. Arafat, Suha, has lived in Gay Paree for many a year. 'Ole Yasser sent her a nice fat check every month - from $100,000-150,000 - yeah, every month. Uncle Hamzi can't imagine how he would spend $100,000 every month. Okay, maybe once or twice, but every month? Suha has put on quite a bit of weight over the years; must be the haute cuisine. How many hungry kids are there in Gaza?

  Anyway, while her old man, Yasser, was spending his last days in a French military hospital, Suha put up a fuss anytime someone from the Palestinian Authority (PA) wanted to come for a visit. The French were exasperated by her refusal, permissible under French law, to allow others access to her husband's room in the Percy Military Hospital near Paris.

  Some of the Palestinians were not happy with her antics. No less than Hanan Ashrawi noted that it was rather late for Suha to play the emotional, concerned wife after leaving Yasser to his own devices while confined to his "presidential" compound in Ramallah by the Israelis.

  Palestinian sources tell of a bitter fight which broke out over who should control Arafat's fortune. He reportedly left a will assigning control his assets to members of his wife’s family. Some of his aides, including former Premier Mahmoud Abbas who stepped in as interim leader, however, believe the fortune belongs to the “beit al-mal” (public treasury), and should be transferred to the Palestinian Authority. The controversy began when Suha asked Muhammad Rashid, Arafat’s confidant and adviser, to prepare a list of the ailing leader’s fortune. According to Palestinian sources Rashid has said he would furnish the list only to the Palestinian Authority.

  Identifying Arafat’s personal fortune and separating it from numerous secret bank accounts that he maintained in the name of the Palestine Liberation Orgaization and Al-Fatah is no easy task.

  According to Jean-Claude Robard, a Swiss investment adviser, Arafat opened his first secret bank account in 1965 with a $50,000 check from the emir of Kuwait. Since then he has set up other accounts in Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands.

  Arafat also owns a number of hotels and holiday resorts in Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland, and Austria. He is the main shareholder in two cellular telephone companies operating in Tunisia and Algeria.

  Some of Arafat’s businesses are in partnership with Arab politicians, former officials and entrepreneurs, including Rifaat Assad, a brother of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad, and Barzan Al-Takriti, a half-brother of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Al-Takriti is now under arrest in Baghdad.

  Mrs. Arafat rejected a $2 million financial settlement from the PA. The settlement was aimed at persuading Suha Arafat to allow completion of the tests that would determine if Arafat was dead. As long as he was alive, or everyone could be convinced that he was still breathing, Suha would keep getting her checks. It also held up the establishment of a new leadership, and possibly any hopes for peace with Israel.

  French officials were astonished to discover that Suha Arafat's constant companion and financial adviser was none other than Pierre Rizk, who headed the intelligence service of the Lebanese Phalange during that nation's tragic civil war and was in close personal contact with the guerrilla group responsible for the massacre at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camp in 1982.

  Rizk holds power of attorney for Suha Arafat, and French and Palestinian officials have been in constant contact with him over Mrs. Arafat's financial demands, which she says are designed to ensure the financial future of her and her daughter. $150,000 each month for all those years and she is not secure? Where did all of that money go Suha?

  Rizk, a Maronite Lebanese, is well known to Israeli officials, and has spent long periods in Israel where he met with government officials and private business figures. Israelis who have met with him in person describe him as a colorful figure, and say that he is something of a womanizer.

  In 1999, Rizk won a legal suit he filed in the U.S. courts against the PA. The suit, which created quite a stir in financial circles in the PA, was based on a promise made to Rizk by Yasser Arafat just before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, that he would be granted the license to develop the communications infrastructure in the West Bank.

  Rizk obtained a note, signed by Arafat, in which he undertook to award the contract to International Technology Integrated (ITI), a company incorporated in the U.S. At the same time, it now appears that Arafat was handing out similar notes to many other people and companies, promising them jobs, tenders and contracts in his future government. Told ya' Arafat was a shyster.

  In practice, none of these promises were ever fulfilled. Unlike other disappointed parties, Rizk decided to sue Arafat for violating his word, and was awarded $18 million. As a result, American banks froze $80 million of the PA's money, threatening its stability.

  Now get this!!! The Italian newspaper Corriere De La Serra reports that Suha will receive $22 million a year out of the Palestinian Authority budget. Looks like Suha got the right man, Mr. Rizk, to fleece the Palestinians.

  Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO's newly elected chairman, personally promised Suha that she would receive $22 million a year to cover her expenses in Paris. The paper noted that in July Arafat transferred to his wife $11 million (that's a bit more than $100,000 a month) to cover her living costs for the first six months of the year - easy livin'.

  It is assumed that Palestinian leaders reached the conclusion that it would be better to make a deal with her in order to solve the crisis surrounding Arafat's possessions and secret bank accounts.

  As ever, dear readers, Hamzi al-Halal has been busy digging up dirt to get at the real story. Tales of Mr. Arafat's homosexuality and attraction to underage partners, go way, way back. Godless East European intelligence agencies are known to have reported on Yasser's habits. Homosexuality is considered to be especially shameful in Arab society. It just would not be kosher were it to be known that the the newly sainted leader of the Palestinians was both a poofta and a child molester. Suha's big settlement is hush money! This will be the subject of my next column.

  According to Palestinian officials, the money that Suha is expected to receive will come from secret accounts held by Arafat and his cronies in various countries. They estimated that at least $4 billion were being held in these secret accounts. Yeah, Yasser was a man of the people all right. How far would four billion, remember this is in addition to the publicly acknowledged fortune, go in alleviating the suffering of the Palestinians he claimed to care so much about.

  Yasser is now with his houris (virgins) in Paradise, but Suha's got the money. Woo! Pig! Sooohha!

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