Follow the Money

In the mid-1980s Arafat was estimated to control some $7 billion in numerous secret bank accounts and in widespread commercial investments.

By 2003 the estimate had been lowered to about $1.3 billion - funds that could feed the Palestinian population for over a year with a considerable amount left over for social welfare projects.

It is not unreasonable to conclude that up until his death, Arafat continued to hold well in excess of a billion dollars - and perhaps even more - that had been donated for the good of the Palestinian people and that he had diverted to his personal accounts to cement his authority.

This is the money that helped finance the Al Aqsa Martyrs organization and its terrorist activities.

According to Palestinians who sat in on decisive meetings with Arafat, it was Arafat's design and money that triggered and sustained the intifada after the Camp David failure, not the visit of Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount.

It is imperative for the U.S., working with responsible Palestinians, to trace this money, identify it, freeze it, and safeguard it for the Palestinian people.

And I, Smooth, add the following: And present the money as reparations to the Jews and Israelis who were slaughtered by Arafat's terror groups.

Follow the Money