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Obituary: Palestinian Leader Persecuted After Exposing Arafat Deceit

[ Guardian-UK] Sandra Harris - Jaweed al-Ghussein, who died at age 77 on July 1, was former chairman of the Palestinian National Fund (PNF). In that role, he drew attention to the extensive corruption of Yasser Arafat, and his whistleblowing was met with a sustained campaign of persecution by the Palestinian Authority. In 1984 Ghussein became chairman of the PNF, the financial arm of the PLO. He soon began to suspect that money intended to help families and fighters was being siphoned off by Arafat into secret bank accounts. When Ghussein criticized Arafat's backing of Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, instigating the first Gulf War in 1990, their relationship collapsed. Six years later Ghussein, sickened by the deceit and hypocrisy that surrounded him, resigned very publicly on Abu Dhabi television when he called for accountability and transparency in the PLO. From that moment on, he was a marked man. An extraordinary campaign of innuendo and accusation was orchestrated by the PA, alleging misappropriation of funds.
2008-07-11 01:00:00
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