Yasir Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), isn't gone—yet. But his megalomaniacal leadership has put in place what will happen when he is. Already, sporadic gun battles take place in the streets of Palestinian towns and cities, as clan leaders and warlords jockey for power. For the most part, they still submit to Arafat, who strangely remains a symbol of opposition to Israel. But these gangs are positioning themselves to seize advantage when he is gone.

The legacy Arafat leaves will likely ensure that peace with Israel will not take place for a long time. But it will also ensure wretchedness for the people he is supposed to lead into security and nationhood.

Sources told Time magazine that Arafat said, "I know how to protect the Palestinian interests better than anyone else," when meeting with Prime Minister Ahmed Queria (Matthew Rees and Jamil Hamad, "Aafat Under Fire," July 25, 2004). "I'm not going to surrender," he added, as if the latest dispute was a personal attack on him, instead of a revolt against the rot that permeates his organization.

Speaking of Arafat's leadership, Palestinian legislator Hana Ashrawi said, "We should put this one-man-show behind us" (Jerusalem Post Online Edition, July 26, 2004). She told of troubling rumors of a high volume of sales of weapons in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Arafat has governed the 3.7 million residents of the Palestinian territories like so many ruthless dictators in Middle East history, not like a democratically elected president. Of course, there has been only one presidential election, in 1996, and no date set for another. And, in that election, he saw to it that the only opponent he faced was a 73-year-old female social activist.

"Leadership" by force and bribery

Throughout his years of notoriety, from international terrorist to quasi head-of-state, he has managed those who might take over from him with Machiavellian skill. Instead of serving the people he presides over, he ensures that the powerful continue to fight among themselves, thus controlling his people through carrot and stick. He channels millions of dollars of foreign aid to businessmen loyal to him and bribes government officials to remain in his camp.

Using the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade—a militia within the PA that is listed by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization—he wields his mafia-style control through lynchings, shootings, kidnappings, arrests and threats of violence—against Palestinians!

As often happens with those corrupt to the point of arrogance, Arafat in blatant nepotism appointed his unpopular and incapable cousin, Musa Arafat, over all PA security forces in late July. Musa in the past headed one of the many branches of security in the PA, military intelligence.

Violent protests erupted throughout the Palestinian territories. About 300 armed men seized the governor's office in Khan Yunis, a city in the Gaza Strip, holding it for several hours until the security officers received assurances they would not lose their jobs in retribution for their rebellion.

Included in the 300 were members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, indicating that Arafat no longer has the full support of this violent and heavily armed terrorist band.

Others were members of the Palestinian Security Services—a concept that needs some explanation. According to the Oslo Accord of 1993, the PA could have only a police force—nothing approaching a paramilitary or military organization—that numbered no more than 30,000.

But the PA's security force numbers between 40,000 and 80,000, and its members carry automatic weapons, have armored vehicles, antitank and antiaircraft missiles. Even at the low estimate of 40,000, the PA would be the most heavily policed territory in the world. And with that kind of weaponry, the security services are the beginnings of an army.

There are 12 different services operating within the Palestinian Security Services. They clash and compete with each other—sometimes violently. One of the services, Force 17, is a private security group of 3,000 whose sole responsibility is the protection of Arafat.

Palestinian cement builds Israeli barrier

In a stunning revelation on the heels of the International Court of Justice's decision that the Israeli barrier wall is illegal, a damning report by Palestinian legislators claims that Palestinian companies sold hundreds of thousands of tons of cement to Israel to create the wall, all with the knowledge and approval of Arafat.

"The report reveals that the cement originally came from Egyptian companies which supplied it at a huge discount of $22... a tonne to help rebuild dilapidated Palestinian houses or buildings bulldozed by the Israelis.

"Between September 2003 and March this year, 420,000 tonnes of cement were allegedly sent to three big Palestinian companies. According to the report, however, only 33,000 tonnes were sold in the Palestinian market. The vast bulk was transported to Israel on trucks owned by the three firms. According to [Hassan] Khreishe [one of the report's three authors and council member from Tulkarm, a city in the West Bank], the cement was then sold with a mark-up of at least $15 a tonne—and possibly as high as $100—making profits of well over $6 million... for company executives" (Inigo Gilmore, "Palestinian Cement for Israel Barrier," The Telegraph of Calcutta, India, July 26, 2004).

The report asserts that Arafat's government approved the transactions; that Arafat personally knew of the business dealings for five months before the report made them public, and that he did nothing to stop it, all the while condemning the construction of the wall.

Pilfered millions

Thanks to the generosity of nations willing to send aid to the Palestinians, Arafat has hundreds of millions of dollars to work with, which he seems to use as he chooses. Last September the International Monetary Fund found that he diverted $900 million of donated monies into his private bank account. His personal worth is estimated to be at least $1.3 billion. CBS News reported an additional fund of $800 million that Arafat funneled into an account in the name of his wife, Suha, and daughter, in addition to $100,000 given to Suha monthly by the Palestinian Authority.

In February of this year, French prosecutors opened an investigation into money laundering, focusing upon $15 million paid into Suha Arafat's account between July 2002 and July 2003. Mrs. Arafat spends most of her time in Europe, living the luxurious lifestyle of a queen. The French satirical publication Le Canard Echaine reported that Suha paid 2 million euros out of those funds to an interior decorator who is frequently employed by the world's jet-setters.

Using the huge resources of international aid as he chooses obviously gives Arafat untouchable power in the Palestinian Authority. Yet his family's luxury stands in horrible contrast to the poverty of the Palestinians in the camps of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Jessica Stern in Terror in the Name of God (2003) writes of seeing raw sewage pumped onto the sand surrounding Palestinian camps in which people live in depressing squalor, most of them without jobs.

Stern says that both Arafat's Fatah party and the Islamic terrorist group Hamas actually want to keep the Palestinians in poverty, because it keeps them dependent and therefore controllable. People would literally starve were it not for handouts from their corrupt government or from the terrorists.

This has nothing to do with Israel, but rather the leadership of Arafat. Had he condemned the intifada begun in 2000 by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade instead of funding it, had he used the hundreds of millions of aid dollars to help Palestinians develop the businesses and skills to be self-supporting instead of as his personal treasure, had he stopped the rampant corruption within the Palestinian Authority instead of encouraging bribery and kickbacks, had he ordered the establishment of a police force instead of trying to create an army, had he brought the many tribal factions together instead of stirring up infighting, the Palestinian people would have a state of their own today.

Legacy of criminal self-indulgence

How will history remember Arafat? I believe it will judge him as a greedy, self-important man who caused grievous harm to his people.

Arafat's declaration, "I'm not going to surrender," to his most recent prime minister in the most recent blowup over who has authority over the Palestinian Security Services is telling. It's all about Arafat. It's always been all about Arafat.

The crux issue is that security services must be taken out of Arafat's control and put under the prime minister. That is what Egypt and "the Quartet" (Russia, the United Nations, the United States and the European Union) demanded. That is what the first Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, was to do; it was what he tried to do; it was what he resigned over failing to do.

And in spite of promises that finally Prime Minister Queria will have authority to reform the security services, you can be sure that Arafat hasn't surrendered actual control.

Egypt borders the Gaza Strip and fears that, after Arafat, the Islamic terrorist group Hamas will take control. For their sake, Egypt pressed Arafat to reform the security services and put an end to the infighting between the various branches. Arafat refused Egypt's advice.

He seems to be doing the same with the Quartet's demand. Julie Stahl, CNSNews.com's Jerusalem bureau chief, cites Israeli intelligence sources as saying Arafat is waiting out what he hopes will be a change of administrations in Washington. The most frequent guest in the Clinton White House, Arafat is reportedly angered by the Bush administration's refusal to treat him with such deference. Whether a Kerry White House would embrace Arafat is uncertain, as so many revelations of corruption have surfaced in recent months.

Disaster in the wings

Why don't the Palestinian people overthrow the tyrant? As noted above, he controls the purse strings of their survival and he is willing to use his militia to enforce his will on them. But beyond these factors, he controls or bullies the media and the schools.

"While charming diplomatic dupes in the West with beautiful English-language statements, he has for years been rallying Palestinians to Jihad—in Arabic. It's all part of Arafat's cult of death. It starts by brainwashing youths not long after they are out of diapers, and the incitement continues with the bombardment of constant anti-Semitism and calls to arms over radio and television. With so much venom injected into Palestinian hearts and minds, it's a fair question if peace can come even after Arafat exits stage left" (Joel Mowbray, "Arafat's Poisonous Reign Finally Being Challenged," Townhall.com, July 26, 2004).

A senior Fatah official told Time's Matthew Rees and Jamil Hamad that party leaders gave Arafat notice two years ago to clean his house up. Now it is dawning upon them that Arafat will not change. But if anyone other than Arafat attempts reform, for example Prime Minister Queria attempting to disarm the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade and other militias, Arafat has the people so primed that reform will appear to be giving in to Israeli interests.

Jane's Intelligence in its Feb. 18, 2004, foreign report suggests that a post-Arafat Palestinian Authority will fragment into small groups of warlords with their own armed forces. None will be large enough in itself to have the weight to speak for all Palestinians. Any moderates who see that they could actually have their state through negotiations with Israel would not have any strength without the backing of warlords—who would not back negotiations.

After Arafat, then, there will be chaos in the PA. What's the worst that could happen? I mentioned above the fear that the Egyptians have of Hamas taking control of the Gaza Strip. An activist group calling itself Tanzim is closely allied with the terrorist Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade in the West Bank. The alliance views their joining arms with Hamas as a post-Arafat strategy for controlling the West Bank region too.

Think of what that means—radical Islamic terrorist control of land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. Arafat alive has been a disaster. Arafat dead could actually be worse.

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