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November 11, 2004

'FIRST LADY OF FRANCE'

'Every beautiful flower ends up surrounded by weeds.' - Cyanide blonde/grief-stricken widow/fag hag Suha Arafat

Nablus-born Christian, raised Greek Orthodox. Daughter of wealthy Oxford-educated banker Daoud Tawil & inflammatory journalist Ramonda Tawil. Educated at Sorbonne. Met former confirmed bachelor Arafat in Amman. Was 'economic adviser' to Arafat in Tunis. Married when he was 61, she 27.

Visited Gaza refugee camps in luxury blue BMW. In food drive for Iraqi children under sanctions, had every outgoing box stamped 'a gift from the first lady of Palestine.' 10 year old daughter Zahwa has Palestinian amusement park named in her honor. Claims Arafat sang Frere Jacques to daughter (hard to believe)

Nickname in Palestinian press: Miss Moneybags. Who she admires: Hillary Clinton. Friends: Shapari Khashoggi, Queen Rania of Jordan. Wears: Louis Féraud, Christian Louboutin. (When Arafat sat next to Catherine Deneuve at dinner, Suha had to explain who she was. )

Arafat fortune estimated $300 million (Forbes), $1.3 billion (Mossad), $4.2 billion (IMF). According to PA, Suha received monthly stipend of $100,000, which means Israeli figure of $1 million per month more likely. Owns villa on gold standard Rue Fauborg St Honore, also maintains lavish suite at 5-star Hotel Le Bristol.

Investigated for money laundering this year when $11.4 million showed up in French account, about the time IMF discovered $778 million 'hole' in PA funds. Suha's response:"Ariel Sharon is responsible for this vicious leak. What's strange about the rais [president] sending money to his wife overseas, especially when I handle Palestinian matters and interests?"

In Gaza appearance with Hillary Clinton: "Our people have been subjected to the daily & extensive use of poisonous gas by the Israeli forces, which has led to an increase in cancer cases among women & children." [Clinton: smooches with Suha 'worst mistake' of Senate campaign]

Current financial advisor: Pierre Rizk, who headed intelligence service of Phalanga during Lebanese civil war & was in close contact with guerrilla group responsible for the massacre at Sabra & Shatilla refugee camp in 1982 [!].

On snogging a murderer: "I married a myth. But the marriage helped him step down from his pedestal & become a human being."

Palestinian PM Mahmoud Abbas to Arafat: "It's her or me."

Suha's guide to fitness & beauty: "I do 1 hour of aerobics every day to release the tensions. Thank God for (beauty) creams."

Suha's advice for political wives: "This is the best advice I can give to Sara Netanyahu: demonstrate self-confidence exactly like Hillary Clinton."

Unnamed PA legislator: "She was in fact the first lady of France."

Gaza policeman: "I once saw Arafat kiss a wounded man's groin, but Suha sits as far away as possible. You get the feeling that if she were to move even an inch closer, she would become ill."

On fine French healthcare: "Our child was conceived in Gaza, but sanitary conditions there are terrible. I don't want to be a hero & risk my baby."

On Arafat's advisors: "And as if a rooster on the garbage heap we have our own ministers, who build their private palaces right at the neighbors of the refugee camps."

On haute terrorism: "If we want to be a Palestinian state, we have to be avant garde."

Suha's guide to marital bliss: "I argue only when I know what I want. It is hard to influence Arab men. The Arab male is not influenced by a woman. It goes in one ear and out the other."

On living with gangsters: "It was not easy to enter into their world. It is a man's world, & very closed -- like a family with a lot of intermarriages, &, well, you know the result of that."

What she would do with a son: "There would be no greater honor than to sacrifice him for the Palestinian cause."

On her man: "It wasn't fate; it was love."

On being a stay-at-home wife: "When I complain of being neglected, he offers me souvenirs and symbols of the Palestinian revolution."

Commentator Muhammad Yaghi on the Palestinians' bond with Suha: "Really, they want only to forget her."

Fatmah Faqih, Ramallah refugee on Suha: "She lives in hotels. We live in ditches."

On her daughter Zahwa: "She is totally her father. A real authoritarian."

On Oslo: "Peace is a lie."

On hope in the Middle East: "I hate the Israelis."

On her enemies in the PA: "History will judge them."

SUHAGRAPHY: Debka on $ecret deal between PA & Suha. Daniel Pipes: Arafat's Bedroom Farce. Deborah Sontag: Arab Militant in High Heels. Barry Rubin: The Woman Behind the Curtain. Suha Arafat: Ramallah's Lady Macbeth. Red Horizons: Memoirs of Romanian spy chief contains lurid details of Arafat's gay romps. Bird Cage Liners

Posted by Jeff at November 11, 2004 01:35 PM

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