Yassir Arafat

I think this is good news in one way, I may be a catalyst for some discussion about the future of Palastine.

It may be an opening that Bush/Blair UN etc cannot afford to ignore.

If there will be a brave leadership that will want to solve the problem here without terror and recive in return an independent state for the Palestinians, I think that Arafat's death may be a great hope to the region.

Arye

I think that 'brain dead' is a figure of speech meaning that he's dead but they don't want to announce it until they've sorted out the mess.

Given that peace couldn't be negotiated with Arafat, let's hope that his death brings renewed hope to the region.

Steve Margolis
defy convention - make music

Maybe his wife (whom I hear controls what to do with him) looking for a way to transfer the money that Europe gave to the Palestinians to her own bank account?

Arye

quote:

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Maybe his wife (whom I hear controls what to do with him) looking for a way to transfer the money that Europe gave to the Palestinians to her own bank account?

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Can't blame her, wouldn't want the Israelis to get their paws on it to top up their funding from the US now, would she?

Steve.

It's a grand old team to play for...

After the Bristol Hi-Fi Show I got into conversation with a man from Lebanon. He told me that Yasser Arafat's financial adviser was Jewish.

Well, stranger things have happened.

Steve M

Not only jewish, but a man who at the same time advised to top officials for official acts in Israel.
The man was a jew but a dirty person.

Arye

Ironic he should die a rich man in a bed in Paris.

Death hits us all, what a funny old world

Arafat is gay?

In an Israeli forum of physicians, they are talking about the possibility that Arafat has Aids and that's the reason why they are shame to publish his illness. I'm quoting from there although few of the Dr in the forum are thinking that the one who wrote this article is not a Dr. There is also a description that says that when Arafat went on the Helicopter that took him to Jordan, he tried to kiss his Dr. but the Dr. backed from him.

Arye

quote:

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Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath Monday said that all types of cancer had been ruled out.

Arafat has been visibly ill for more than two weeks. Last Wednesday he collapsed and briefly lost consciousness. Initial blood tests performed in the West Bank revealed a low blood platelet count. The Palestinian leader was airlifted to France where he is undergoing more tests.

But, with leukemia and other forms of cancer ruled out, the list of possible diseases is narrowing.

A low blood platelet count is a sign of a weakened immune system. In addition to cancer, the low count could be attributed to bleeding ulcers, colitis, liver disease, lupus, or HIV. It is believed that ulcers and colitis have already been ruled out.

Arafat has lost a considerable amount of body weight. Hopital d'Instruction des Armees de Percy, southwest of Paris, also has some of France's best HIV/AIDS doctors.

For several years there have been suggestions that Arafat was bisexual.

Ion Pacepa, who was deputy chief of Romanian foreign intelligence under the Ceaucescu regime and who defected to the West in 1978, says in his memoirs that the Romania government bugged Arafat and had recordings of the Arab leader in orgies with his body guards.
If the suggestions that Arafat has AIDS are true, it is doubtful it would be made public.

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Few hours ago I read in another Israeli site that it is a possibility that Arafat illness is AIDS. They say that the French government has the test results of Arafat but it seems that they don't feel comfortable to publish it.

Arye

Surprise, surprise but even heterosexual people can get hiv, Arye..

Maybe... it is AIDS.

bjorne
I was talking (actually quoting) specific things about Arafat.

Arye

Arye, in your post 16:59 today you ask: "Arafat is gay?". That's what I'm objecting at.

Bjorne

Looking at Arye's post it seems that he may be questioning the claim.......

Whatever the outcome, we will NEVER know the truth.

Was it a sniper from a grassy knowle ?

quote:

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Originally posted by Tom Alves:
It is known the Israelis hate Arrafat.

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Is there any particular reason why they should love him?

Everyone knows something about Arafat's post-PLO history. Less people know about his pre-PLO history, specifically his relationship with his guru, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, the grand mufti of Jerusalem, who was a close friend and supporter of Adolf Hitler.

After his death is announced, there will be plenty of opportunity for us to learn more about Yasser Arafat. I suggest that you listen carefully, particularly to the comments by the Palestinian and other Arab historians and experts.

As for me, I say "poison, HIV, gay, straight - we'll probably never know. Just as long as he's dead."

Steve M

bjorne

This is the paragragh that made me asking if Arafat is gay (you can read this in my original post):

quote:

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For several years there have been suggestions that Arafat was bisexual.

Ion Pacepa, who was deputy chief of Romanian foreign intelligence under the Ceaucescu regime and who defected to the West in 1978, says in his memoirs that the Romania government bugged Arafat and had recordings of the Arab leader in orgies with his body guards.

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Arye

Agree - especially when the body guards have a good body !

Arye

France: Arafat Must Go

???

The death of Arafat (and Sharon's change in policy in Gaza, Blair's G8 Presidency, Blair's supposed influence with Bush, etc) could be seen as an opportunity for a change in direction in the current Israli-Palestinian stalemate and as providing much needed momentum and a new approach.

Or it could be seen as an opportunity to make vaguely homophobic slurs against a dying man.

It's a personal moral choice really.

Matthew

Chaps

I totally agree with Matthew on this one. I need add no more.

Regards

Mick

It's very strange indeed that Arafat's sexual life seems to be more damning to some here than the fact that the man has usurped countless millions for himself and his family that were meant to build Palestine into the semblance of a nation.

I seem to recall Arafat is listed as one of the richest 100 people on earth. Can you imagine?

Unfortunately Bush has just been reelected, so this is not a White House that's likely to broker a stable peace between Israel and Palestine.

I also agree with Mick and Matthew.

If Arafat is exposed as a closet homosexual who died of AIDS - something that would be at odds with his followers and other devout Muslims alike (if not the rest of the non-homophobic world) then it may help both the Arab and non-Arab World to put history behind us at the close of one of its more destructive chapters - and push for more peaceful coexistence in the future.

Regards,

Steve.