Haaretz reports on a French investigation into the transfer of millions of euros to the bank accounts of Yasser Arafat’s wife Suha.
Corruption among top officials of the Palestinian Authority is old news. And until recently it hasn’t greatly troubled the European Union and other donors to the PA. But the same article mentions something potentially far more devastating:
In a parallel development, investigators from the European Union anti-fraud office (OLAF), who are looking into allegations that the PA diverted money from European donors into terror activity, have concluded that documents the IDF seized during Operation Protective Shield are authentic.
The documents suggested Arafat ordered that funds from European sources be used to support such activity – some of the money reportedly went to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which has been involved in terror strikes.
Investigators from OLAF, an independent body authorized to review matters connected to all spheres of EU activity, came to Israel two weeks ago to collect data on allegations of PA involvement in terror, and to review the documents confiscated by the IDF.
After studying the materials, the OLAF investigators concluded the documents were genuine. Sources close to the investigation said findings based on the OLAF officials’ trip to Israel will be incorporated in their final report, which should be completed in two months.
So is it possible all those documents the IDF seized from Arafat’s headquarters in 2002 were in fact real, and not Israeli forgeries, as Palestinian officials claimed?
If it turns out that Arafat did in fact divert EU money to Al Aqsa, will there be a public outcry from the EU countries? If not, what will it take?
