Re: LIVE FROM PALESTINE: THE DIARIES PROJECT

Arafat's Over Billion-Dollar Stash
Rodney Dalton (Sunday Mail-Australia)
http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,8010804^401,00
.html

    PA finance minister Salam Fayyad "is really trying very hard," says
Matthew Levitt, a former FBI analyst who tracks terrorism.

    "However, (his) best efforts can only be successful as they pertain to
the PA's funds. He has no jurisdiction over PLO funds, Fatah (Arafat's
political party) funds, or any funds that have been diverted to Yasser
Arafat's (or his associates') personal accounts."

    Arafat still pays the salaries of more security officers than he needs,
including Palestinian naval police based in landlocked Hebron.

    The renewed interest in Arafat's finances comes at a sensitive time for
the Palestinians, who will present their 2004 budget at an international
donors conference in Rome on December 12.

    Europe - the PA's main financial backer - wants to know what happened to
the $US5.5 billion in international aid that has flowed in Arafat's
direction since the PA was established in 1994.

    See also One Man Bank - Asaf Romirowsky (FrontPageMagazine)
http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10834