‘Arafat Exile Ready In Tunisian Suburb’; Source
"Soha Arafat – his wife – supervises the construction process herself, as she has settled in Tunis lately," the source added.
He pointed out "the U.S. administration gave the green light to the Tunisian President, Zain al-Abidin Ben Ali to be ready to receive Arafat,” as Tunisia received Arafat in 1982 following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon when the Palestinian resistance had to get out of Beirut and resort to Tunis.
The source said that giving the green light to the Tunisian President to receive Arafat falls within the context of the mediator role by Ben Ali in similar situations with Washington. Ben Ali has offered exile to ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on a request from the U.S. hours before the Iraq invasion was unleashed, he elaborated.
On June 24, 2002, the U.S. President called on the Palestinians to change their leadership – a clear reference to – as a precondition to establish Palestinian state by 2005.
On April 27, 2003, London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted U.S. officials as saying that Washington was putting pressure on Arab and European states to cut diplomatic contacts with Arafat, and to transfer financial aids away from his control.
Arafat stayed in Tunisia between 1982 and 1994, returned to occupied Palestinian lands after Oslo treaty.
He escaped many assassination attempts during his stay in Tunis, with the Israeli raid in 1985 as the closest call. It targeted the offices of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Hammam Village, and while Arafat escaped death narrowly, many other Palestinians and Tunisians were killed.
