Yasser Arafat addresses Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza.

	Arafat's popularity is declining
	TIME's attempt to sanitize Arafat
	Office of the President - Yasser Arafat
	Palestinian National Authority
	Palestine Information Center
	DEBKAfile

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has secretly stashed away $20 million in a Swiss bank account, to be used if he is forced to leave the Palestinian territories. In addition, according to an exclusive Jerusalem Post report published yesterday, Arafat's secret funds have been offered to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in exchange for providing a safe haven for Arafat in such an eventuality.

In its lead story yesterday, the Jerusalem Post quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that Arafat began to prepare his escape plan shortly before the start of the Intifada in September. Arafat reportedly sent a delegation to Baghdad to arrange the Iraqi deal.

The Jerusalem Post reported today that one Palestinian

	"Arafat has no strategy." - Jamil Hamad, TIME correspondent

source had confirmed the existence of Arafat's emergency fund, though others denied it. None of the Post's Palestinian sources would confirm Arafat's offer to Saddam Hussein.

The charge of an Iraqi connection to Arafat's plight was supported by the DEBKAfile web site. DEBKAfile reported last week that Yasser Arafat responded "to the latest Israel military actions against Palestinian territory by calling on Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein to come to the Palestinians' aid."

In a speech last week, Arafat asked the Iraqi leader to dispatch 6.5 million volunteer fighters to come to the aid of the Palestinian people. Iraqi television broadcast images of the first volunteers climbing onto busses on their way to liberate Palestine.

DEBKAfile reported "the phrase "6.5 million combat volunteers" is in fact a coded SOS message… for use by Arafat in a situation of dire distress." DEBKAfile concluded that Arafat's future is unstable and that "there is no time like the present for Iraqi military intervention in the conflict."

In its lead story today, The Jerusalem Post reported that visiting European Union officials plan to closely monitor funds transferred to the Palestinian Authority in order to ensure they do not find their way into Arafat's pockets. EU special Middle East envoy Miguel Moratinos said, "We are not going to allow these kinds of things, and will control [the aid funds] very well."

Arafat has no strategy
Arafat's calculated escape option has been planned at a time when his popularity is declining and public support for the Intifada is waning. In addition, analysts have begun to question whether Arafat is still in charge over what is happening in the territories. "It seems that Arafat is certainly losing control over some of the Palestinian areas," David Horovitz, editor of The Jerusalem Report, recently told BBC.

Though there are signs that the recent blockade of Ramallah has reawakened Palestinian interest in the uprising against the Israeli occupation, Arafat's future in the long run is not guaranteed. TIME correspondent Jamil Hamad believes that Palestinians have grown weary of suffering the consequences of an uprising that's going nowhere.

"Arafat has no strategy; he has only tactics," Hamad reported to TIME from Bethlehem. "[Arafat is] hoping that Sharon will make a stupid mistake, kill 200 Palestinians and attract world condemnation. But Sharon is aware of that, and he's not going to give Arafat the pleasure."

West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti denied the possibility that the Palestinian leader would flee into exile. "No one except Arafat can unite and lead the Palestinians in these difficult times," he said.

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