Suha Arafat Warns to Reveal Scandals over Criticism Against her

File: Suha Arafat at her home in Sliema, Malta, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 (AP Photo/Lino Azzopardi)
File: Suha Arafat at her home in Sliema, Malta, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 (AP Photo/Lino Azzopardi)
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Suha Arafat Warns to Reveal Scandals over Criticism Against her

File: Suha Arafat at her home in Sliema, Malta, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 (AP Photo/Lino Azzopardi)
File: Suha Arafat at her home in Sliema, Malta, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 (AP Photo/Lino Azzopardi)

The widow of Yasser Arafat, Suha, warned this week to release documents on “political scandals” against a number of Palestinian officials who criticized her for friendly comments she made to the United Arab Emirates, after it announced its normalization of ties with Israel.

“If they want to open the gates of hell on me, I’ll open the gates of hell on them too. And I have Yasser’s personal diary. He wrote about every one of them. If I publish a tiny piece of paper of what Yasser wrote about them, it will expose them to their people,” Suha Arafat said in an interview with Israel’s Kan TV news Thursday.

She stressed that the campaign against her and her family is organized by a cadre of politicians and advisers to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

“He has nothing to do with this, but they’re leading him on. I love Abu Mazen but those around him want to destroy the Arafat family,” she said.

She said it was unfit to criticize an Arab country for signing a peace agreement with Israel.

Suha Arafat, who resides in Malta, wrote on her Instagram page on August 21 that she apologizes “in the name of the Palestinian people” for some parties slamming the UAE after normalizing its ties with Israel.



Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Lebanon's Presidential Election is My Priority After Ceasefire

Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (R) meets with French President's Special Envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian (L), in Beirut, Lebanon, 28 November 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (R) meets with French President's Special Envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian (L), in Beirut, Lebanon, 28 November 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Lebanon's Presidential Election is My Priority After Ceasefire

Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (R) meets with French President's Special Envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian (L), in Beirut, Lebanon, 28 November 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (R) meets with French President's Special Envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian (L), in Beirut, Lebanon, 28 November 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has set the presidential election session for January 9, 2024, calling it a “productive” meeting and announcing that accredited ambassadors in Lebanon will be invited.

Berri told Asharq Al-Awsat that his priority after the ceasefire with Israel is the presidential election, which he called a “national necessity.”

The announcement came as French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Beirut for talks with Lebanese leaders about restarting stalled political efforts due to the war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Both Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati received a call from French President Emmanuel Macron late Wednesday.

Macron discussed with Mikati the current situation in Lebanon following the ceasefire, as well as the implementation of decisions made at the recent Lebanon Support Conference in Paris.

In his call with Berri, Macron addressed the general situation, recent steps taken by Lebanon regarding the ceasefire and Israeli provocations, and preparations for the presidential election.

This renewed presidential push comes after more than two years of a vacant presidency, with Lebanese political parties still divided over a consensus candidate.