Smash hit

Arafat has suffered from various illnesses since being corralled in Ramallah, and time and again the medics have come to see what is wrong. This time it was serious enough to summon doctors from abroad.

They diagnosed a blood disorder that could indicate various diseases, including leukaemia. They told him that, if he needed more tests and was not treated in a specialist hospital, he might die.

In the midst of these grim deliberations came a telephone call from Suha, Arafat’s wife, announcing her imminent arrival. This formidable blonde 41-year-old matriarch divides her time between a flat in Paris and a villa in Tunis.

She has never been a favourite among the Arafat entourage, not least because of the belief that she has started a separate life dominated more by designer clothes than the intifada, or uprising, against Israel.

Whether or not that perception is fair, Palestinian figures in the Arafat bunker were hissing venom at what they regarded as her intrusion after an absence of more than four years. “Somebody must have told her he was dying,” sniffed a source close to the leader. “She never bothered to come when he was sick before.”

According to this source, Suha — whose comfortable Parisian lifestyle is supposedly sustained by a monthly transfer from the Palestinian war chest — rushed to Ramallah in part to inquire about money.

“She wanted to know the details of the bank accounts; she wants to make sure that the financial future of Zahwa, their daughter, is safe,” said the source, adding that Arafat had refused to divulge any details of the accounts.

THE truth is that funds are much depleted since the early 1980s when the Palestinians made a fortune from drug trafficking in Lebanon and had up to $5 billion in their accounts.

Although Arafat has occasionally given others temporary access to the accounts, he is the sole signatory to many of them. The Palestinian Authority is often described as corrupt, but its leader Arafat has led a relatively simple life in his bunker.

Suha may receive a monthly allowance, but Arafat has spent more on keeping the loyalty of his friends. An example was the wedding gift to one of his advisers’ sons who was presented with a cheque for $50,000.

In fact, Arafat is constantly doling out money. “From flight tickets to refurnishing a house, from money for needy families to money for medical treatment, everything went through Arafat,” said a Palestinian source. “Now there is nobody to authorise these payments.”

No wonder they were all praying for a speedy recovery. To that end, some of his aides suggested he should seek treatment in Israel. “We told him in Tel Aviv he’d get better treatment than anywhere else,” said Ahmad Tibi, a confidant. “But he said he’d rather die than be hospitalised in Israel.”

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