Suha Arafat (; born Suha Daoud Tawil () on 17 July 1963) is the widow of former Palestinian National Authority president Yasser Arafat.
Early life and education
Suha was born in Jerusalem on 17 July 1963 into an affluent Roman Catholic family who lived in Nablus and then Ramallah (both cities under Jordanian rule at the time). Suha's father Daoud Tawil, an Oxford-educated banker,
Suha's mother, Raymonda Hawa Tawil, born in Acre, is a member of the Hawa family of Acre, prominent property owners in the Haifa area.
Suha converted to Islam at the time of her marriage. However, many Palestinians believe her conversion to be false and allege that Suha has had millions of dollars channeled into secret bank accounts by her late husband, both of which she denies.
In November 1999 in a speech given in Ramallah in the presence of then First Lady Hillary Clinton, Suha Arafat falsely claimed that Israel was using poisonous gas on Palestinians "which has led to an increase in cancer cases among women and children", and that Israel had contaminated 80% of Palestinian water sources with "chemical materials". Suha Arafat's claims were widely denounced as false and antisemitic, and Clinton was criticised for appearing not to swiftly reject the claims, though she criticised the claims the following day. A Palestinian official apologised "for any embarrassment the first lady had suffered." Suha claimed her Tunisian property was also frozen.
On 31 October 2011, the Tunis Court of First Instance issued an international arrest warrant for Suha, relating to corruption in a business deal that involved the former Tunisian first lady, Leila Ben Ali, in 2006. but shortly thereafter she denounced the prosecution as a Tunisian scheme to defame her and the Palestinian cause. She was, at the time, living in Malta. She also denied reports that she had any money or property belonging to the Palestinian national cause, and she said that she opposed normalization of relations with Israel.
Other activities
On 27 November 2012, at the behest of Suha, Arafat's body was exhumed in the West Bank, in order to have samples taken from his remains. The purpose of the exhumation, according to Suha, was to determine whether he was poisoned with polonium.
As of 2011, she was living with her daughter in Malta. They lost their lawsuits and appeals, and in 2017 they took their case to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that the French authorities did not give their case a fair trial by refusing to include additional expert evidence.
See also
- Politics of Palestine