The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest

Vol: 38 Issue: 7 - Sunday, November 07, 2004

"Arafat Not in a Coma . . . He's Just REAL Tired"
by Jack Kinsella

This just in . . . Arafat isn't dead anymore.  He's only sleeping.  That
is the latest word emanating from the confused -- or maybe terrified is
the right word -- Palestinian Authority.

Saeb Erekat told Galei Tzahal Radio that all reports that Arafat is in a
coma or brain dead are false.  According to this esteemed Palestinian
official, Arafat is not on life support, he is on oxygen.  He isn't in a
coma, he's 'sleeping'.

Another PA official,  Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh, gave the same rosy
account of a sleepy Yasser Arafat, who added that he thinks the terrorist
leader is suffering from liver failure.

Except that he refused to say whether he saw Arafat personally, and he did
not specify the nature of the new medical tests he was announcing.

"He is not in a coma," Abu Rdeneh told reporters after coming out of the
French military hospital where Arafat has been treated for more than a
week. "He is still in the intensive care unit.

"He is under strict medical observance. We hope that in the coming few
days we will be able to know exactly what he is suffering from. So far,
nobody could diagnose the situation," he said at about midnight, adding
that Arafat's condition was stable.

"Right now he is sleeping."

At least we know the reason that French doctors can't diagnose his
condition.  They seem to have major problems trying to figure out if
Arafat is a) taking a nap; b) in a coma, reversible or otherwise, or c)
dead.

Until they can figure that out, it seems unlikely they'll have much more
detailed information available to them. French doctors continue to give
updates on his condition; he is 'at a critical point between life and
death'.

What the heck does THAT mean?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that I am at a critical
point between life and death at the moment, myself.  You probably are,
too.  Unless you have some moment in your life you don't consider
critical, since each one brings you closer to death -- just like Arafat.

(Well, maybe NOT like Arafat.  It all depends on whether he is taking a
nap or is being kept warm by life support machines.  French doctors aren't
sure.)

Whether he is sleeping or dead,  the Palestinians plan to bury him in
Jerusalem.  Israeli officials are adamant that he be buried in Gaza.
Nobody has awakened Arafat to ask him if he is dead enough to be buried
yet.  As soon as that information is released, we'll get it right to you.

The formerly dead Yasser Arafat is being eulogized already, as if he
really were dead, instead of only sleeping under an oxygen tent disguised
as a life support machine when not telepathically conferring with his
aides.

(That is how they know he is sleeping and not dead, evidently, since none
of those who claim he is alive have been allowed to see him.)

To American academia, Arafat is being eulogized as a 'positive' leader.
Michigan's Aquinas College political science professor Glenn Barkan not
only called him a 'positive' leader, but gave him a pass for destroying
his people.

"He was ineffective at holding down the violence," Barkan said. "Whether
he was responsible for it or not, in any case this thing sort of got away
from him."

Barkan added that Arafat has been, if not corrupt, then
less-than-efficient in translating billions of dollars in international
aid into economic progress.

"Tons and tons and tons of money have poured in Palestinian coffers
without a lot to show for it," he said.

Evidently, he was taught not to speak ill of the sleeping. Or else Barkan
is an idiot.   Or a professor, but I repeat myself.

Another Michigan academic, Bert DeVries, a Calvin College professor of
Middle East history and frequent visitor to Jordan and the West Bank, said
Arafat's standing in history depends very much on perspective.

"One person's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. If he's looked
at from the point of view of the Palestinians, to call him a terrorist is
to malign his reputation. If you look at him from the standpoint of
(Israeli prime minister) Ariel Sharon, calling him a terrorist is the
norm."

This guy is in charge of shaping young American minds!  What is Osama
bin-Laden?  A terrorist?  Or a freedom fighter?  I guess it depends on
your point of view.  Those who see him as a freedom fighter mostly live in
caves in Afghanistan and colleges in Michigan.

Assessment:

The problem Israel has with burying Yasser Arafat -- whether sleeping or
actually dead -- in Jerusalem, is one of blood.

Specifically, oceans of Israeli blood spilled on Arafat's orders, that the
Palestinians want to mingle with the blood of Israeli kings also buried on
Temple Mount.

It seems that Yasser Arafat is planning one more assault on Israel from
the grave by insisting that he be buried on Temple Mount.   Palestinians
are split on the issue (surprise!) since Palestinian Islamists consider
Arafat an infidel for marrying a non-Muslim wife.

On the other hand, Palestinian nationalists just want to keep Arafat's
intifada alive until they can figure out a way to kill the Jews now
trampling their chosen capital.

Arafat, although he claims to be a Jerusalemite, comes from the Al-Kidwas
clan, which is originally from Gaza.  The clan has a small plot of 25 to
30 graves in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.  Unfortunately, the
family cemetary is also right in the middle of a busy vegetable market.

The Palestinians don't think that is appropriate, so Israel has offered a
couple of other options.

They can bury Arafat beside his old headquarters in Gaza City, or in Gaza
City's 'Martyr's [terrorist] Cemetary' east of Gaza City and close to
Israel's border.  (Neither side has requested assurances that Arafat is
dead first.)

The burial of Yasser Arafat will be his last hurrah.  His final jab at
Israel.  His final nightmare for Israeli security.  The Palestinians are
demanding Israel honor its promise to allow Arafat to return to the West
Bank from France, but Israel says that promise was conditional on Arafat
still being alive.

Israeli officials fear a nightmare scenario reminicent of Iran's Ayatollah
Khomeini in which thousands of berserk supporters carried him through the
streets (dropping him several times in the process).

They fear a similar spectacle with Arafat supporters forcing their way
onto Temple Mount and burying him there anyway. But the whole burial thing
has a sinister motive that has nothing to do with nationalism or Islam.

It's about keeping things in flux until PA officials can find Arafat's
money.

According to Jean-Claude Robard, a Swiss investment adviser, Arafat opened
his first secret bank account in 1965 with a $50,000 check from the emir
of Kuwait. Since then he has set up other accounts in Switzerland,
Austria, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands.

Arafat also owns a number of hotels and holiday resorts in Spain, Italy,
France, Switzerland, and Austria. He is the main shareholder in two
cellular telephone companies operating in Tunisia and Algeria.

Some of Arafat's businesses are in partnership with Arab politicians,
former officials and entrepreneurs, including Rifaat Assad, a brother of
the late Syrian President Hafez Assad, and Barzan Al-Takriti, a
half-brother of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Arafat has reportedly written a will transferring control of his assets to
members of his wife's family. Some of his aides, including former Premier
Mahmoud Abbas who has stepped in as interim leader, say the fortune
belongs to the "beit al-mal" (public treasury), and should be transferred
to the Palestinian Authority -- which is, of course, them.

The controversy started last week when Suha, Arafat's wife, asked Muhammad
Rashid, Arafat's confidant and adviser, to prepare a list of the terrorist
thief's fortune.

The Palestinian Authority, without the demonic direction of Yasser Arafat,
is doomed, and they know it. Now, it's all about the money -- and finding
it before they find themselves hanging from lamposts throughout the West
Bank.

With Arafat gone, it's every man for himself.

And just possibly, a new day for the Arab/Israeli peace process.