Arafat's Widow Is Stripped Of Her Tunisian Citizenship

JERUSALEM — Yasser Arafat's widow, Suha Arafat — who enjoys a reputation for lavish living — has been stripped of her citizenship in her adopted home of Tunisia and forced to leave the country amid allegations that she secretly married the president's brother-inlaw.

Tunisian officials said yesterday that the 44-year-old widow, who was 34 years younger than Yasser Arafat, had moved to Malta where she is living with her Palestinian Arab brother.

According to one official source, she was stripped of her "moral and material rights." It is not clear if this includes her bank accounts, widely rumored to be full of millions hidden away by her late husband.

While the Tunisian government did not specify reasons for the development, Arab newspapers have reported that Mrs. Arafat had married Bilhassan Tarabulsi, whose sister is married to the president of Tunisia, Zein El-Abidin Bin Ali. Other allegations emerged that she had got into a commercial dispute with Tunisian businessmen. The loss of Tunisian nationality represents a setback for Mrs. Arafat, who would face difficulties with the Israeli authorities if she ever tried to return to her birthplace, Jerusalem.

She settled in Tunis after Arafat's death in November 2004 when she became involved in a bitter and, as yet, partially unresolved dispute with the Palestinian authorities.

She accused senior Palestinian Arabs of poisoning her first husband so they could take power and some senior Palestinians accused her of frittering away millions of corruptly acquired dollars on shopping trips to Paris.

Things got so bad that she elected to leave her homes in Ramallah and Gaza and seek a new life in Tunisia which, at first, welcomed her and Zahwa, the daughter, now 12, she had with Arafat.

Accusations of lavish living have dogged her in recent years with the French authorities opening an investigation into alleged multimillion-dollar transfers to her bank account from a number of foreign bank accounts.

Mrs. Arafat hit back by accusing Israel of leaking news of the French inquiry in order to distract attention from corruption allegations that were being leveled at the time against the prime minister at the time, Ariel Sharon.