Palestinians embracing post-Arafat era
by Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank
Thursday 11 November 2004 7:54 AM GMT


The new phase poses a challenge for all Palestinians


As Palestinians mourn the death of one of its most famous resistance leaders, high level political discussions this week were deemed "positive and constructive" with regard to maintaining stability and Palestinian unity.



With the death on Thursday of Yasir Arafat, the man who more or less controlled the panorama of Palestinian national struggle against Zionism for the past forty years, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and resistance organisations are making strenuous efforts to appear united in the face of mounting uncertainty over the post-Arafat era.



Earlier this week, PA Prime Minister Ahmad Quraya held what was described as "positive and constructive talks" with the leaders of 13 Palestinian factions and organisations, including the powerful opposition resistance group, Hamas.



Quraya emphasised the need to manage differences through dialogue and avoid contention and violence.



"Violence is not the solution. Taking up arms is not the solution. Any domestic problem must be solved by national dialogue. This is the only way," he said.



According to sources in Gaza, where the meeting took place, there was a general consensus among all the factions over the need to display utmost national responsibility at "this delicate juncture".

Israel stoking fire


Opposition representative to the talks, Ismail Haniyyah, said Hamas was making every possible effort to cooperate with the PA to overcome the "present crisis".



He dismissed reports originating in Israel about the prospective of inter or intra-factional violence as "wishful thinking".


"They [Israelis] have been trying to stoke the fire in another attempt to ignite a civil war among Palestinians but we have always proved that we are a strong people"

Ismail Haniyyah,
Hamas representative

"They [Israelis] have been trying to stoke the fire in another attempt to ignite a civil war among Palestinians but we have always proved that we are a strong people."



Hamas said it was not clear why Quraya warned against "taking up arms" since all Palestinian factions were opposed to the prospect.



"We don't know why he mentioned this, nobody wants to take up arms," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.


Intra-Fatah struggle


Observers say it is likely Quraya was worried more about an intra-Fatah power struggle and less about a possible showdown between Fatah and Hamas.



One PA official told Aljazeera.net that the often contentious security agencies, particularly in the Gaza Strip, constituted the "weak link" at the moment.



A few months ago, violence erupted after Arafat appointed his widely despised nephew Musa Arafat as security chief in Gaza.



The ensuing demonstration eventually forced the Palestinian leader to revoke the appointment, which only temporarily "froze" the problem.


Accountability


A Hamas representative from Hebron noted that this was not to say that Hamas and other opposition groups were willing to give the post-Arafat Palestinian leadership a "blank cheque".




Hamas says the masses should
decide in free and fair elections

"We are willing to give them a grace period for a few months to prevent the occurrence of lawlessness and chaos... But after that they will have to pay attention to the masses," said the veteran Hamas leader.



Asked what he exactly meant, he explained that Arafat's autocratic style, which was tolerated for psychological and objective reasons, would not be accepted or tolerated from the new Palestinian leadership.



"They will have to be answerable to the people, and this could only be put into effect through free, fair and genuine elections."


Showdown


Indeed, while careful to display national responsibility, Hamas is none the less worried that the "new leadership" might slip back to the Oslo path and find itself, once again, "in American and Israeli laps".



This, argue the resistance group's leaders, would be translated, almost automatically, to a showdown with Hamas, since "fighting terror" - which means cracking down on the opposition - would be the essential condition for any conceivable revival of an Oslo-style peace process, including the American-backed road map for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.



Hamas does, however, dread this prospect and is unlikely to allow the new leadership to evolve into another "Oslo gang" as the erstwhile Oslo-era leadership was often dubbed by the opposition.

Notwithstanding, observers see the resistance group as likely to be in an advantageous position vis-a-vis the Palestinian leadership.


Collaboration


With Arafat no longer around and with his galvanising effect gone, the evolving Palestinian leadership would be less able and probably less inclined to confront Hamas head-on since such a measure might be interpreted as being in cahoots with the Israelis against Palestinian national interests.




Opposition factions are weary of a
return to Oslo-style agreements


There is no doubt that even the appearance of collaborating with the Israelis - or even the Americans - against Hamas is the last thing the new leadership would want.



Observers believe this would be a certificate of bad conduct at best and political suicide at worst as well as the easiest way to lose a fragile and conditional legitimacy hinging on their commitment to the national cause.


Elections


The new Palestinian leadership has to manoeuvre very carefully and very wisely between the Palestinian mainstream - where Hamas' presence is conspicuous - and an international community making huge demands.




Elections seem to be the solution which all Palestinian factions say they accept.



The US has already indicated it will support the organisation of elections to choose a successor to Arafat.



However, it is highly doubtful that occupier Israel will want to empower Palestinians by allowing them to choose a leader who very likely would be inimical to Israeli designs for perpetual occupation and territorial increase.


Corruption



Palestinians say corruption can be
fought through the ballot box

The elections would not only sort out things between the PA and the Islamist opposition camp but also enable the people to punish, through the ballot box, those elements deemed as corrupt, especially within Fatah.



Those corrupt officials could not have survived and thrived that long without Arafat, for whom they always acted as sycophantic and obedient cronies and hangers-on in return for tolerating their indulgences.



Observers believe what worked under Arafat is unlikely to work under Abu Mazin, Ahmad Quraya or any other post-Arafat leader, elected or otherwise.



Besides the Israeli occupation, this is undoubtedly going to be the ultimate challenge, not only for the new leader or leaders, but for the Palestinian masses as well.

Aljazeera
By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank

You can find this article at:
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A720CEFC-F5E0-486D-AB5D-BB947819805A.htm

from new york times



Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Bahaa al-Qidra, a 23-year-old Palestinian artist, spray-painted a Yasir Arafat mural on Wednesday on a wall of the Palestinian offices in Gaza City.




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Mystery Lingers: Whereabouts of His Hidden Fortune
By STEVEN ERLANGER

Published: November 11, 2004


ERUSALEM, Thursday, Nov. 11 - As Yasir Arafat lay dying in Paris, the battle over his legacy involved an unstated but widely acknowledged concern: He personally controlled several billion dollars, and no one else knew where it all was.

The extent and whereabouts of this fortune, which relied on different aides and advisers as co-signers, had been a hidden part of the disputes at his bedside, Israeli and Palestinian officials said, giving the final days of this revolutionary figure the elements of a Victorian novel.

Mr. Arafat, who died early Thursday morning, kept knowledge of the accounts compartmentalized, and only he knew all the details, well-informed Israeli officials said, in assertions confirmed reluctantly by Palestinian officials who did not want to harm Mr. Arafat's legacy.

Much about the financing of the Palestinian movement in the last four decades has been shrouded in secrecy, and its details are hard to pin down. But Palestinians said Mr. Arafat used the money to finance the Palestinian movement and administration, to pay salaries, bestow gifts, ensure loyalty, establish embassies, buy arms and pay groups ranging from charities to young fighters like Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades.

Mr. Arafat, abstemious, spent very little money on himself, living like a soldier with a narrow bed and a few uniforms in his closet. But the pattern of his revolutionary days in exile - financing the Palestine Liberation Organization through secret contributions, the black market and extortion, and being ready to run at a moment's notice - persisted most obviously in his refusal to trust others and his desire to keep large amounts of cash available in case of emergency.

There has been much speculation about how much money went to support the lavish living of his wife, Suha, in Paris, with reports from her enemies in the Palestinian Authority of subsidies of some $100,000 a month. But the sums were relatively small compared with Mr. Arafat's total holdings.

But the way he managed money, and the secrecy and corruption surrounding the administration of the Palestinian Authority, have tainted his legacy with ordinary Palestinians and left a burden for his political heirs.

"Some of it will be buried with him," a senior Israeli official said. "He had many special sources, and no one knows the full sum of money in these accounts. Even Suha doesn't know. He had several financial advisers, and each of them knows part of the story. No one knows it all, except Arafat."

Last year, an audit of Palestinian Authority finances by the International Monetary Fund disclosed that Mr. Arafat had diverted $900 million in public funds to a bank account he controlled from 1995 to 2002. Most of the cash, diverted from budget revenues, went to a variety of commercial ventures.

Last February, the French government opened a tax and money-laundering investigation into the deposit of about 11.5 million euros, nearly $15 million at today's rates, into the accounts of Mrs. Arafat between July 2002 and July 2003.

To try to bring some transparency and efficiency to the accounts of the Palestinian Authority, the United States and European Union pressed Mr. Arafat to appoint a former official of the International Monetary Fund, Salam Fayyad, as finance minister. Mr. Fayyad has made efforts to rationalize spending and to account for international aid, and discovered some $600 million in authority funds invested in about 79 commercial ventures for products including Canadian biopharmaceuticals to Algerian cellphones.

But Mr. Fayyad, who has not returned many calls for comment, has in the past acknowledged that he knows only part of the picture.

Many of the sources of the money are now a matter of public record. Money came to the Palestine Liberation Organization from Arab and other governments, the European Union and international aid agencies, as well as from monopolies on the sale of oil, gas, cement and other goods in the West Bank and Gaza.