Yasser Arafat with Palestinian National Authority cabinet members at a meeting in Copenhagen, 1999. Photo: Hans Jørn Storgaard Andersen.

Mohammed Rashid used to handle enormous amounts of money for the PA under Arafat, including funds that often came as donations from international donors.

In a recent interview with the Al Arabiya satellite network, Rashid said current PA President Mahmoud Abbas “would take millions of dollars from the Palestinian Authority and from the Palestinian private sector in order to send money to fund Arab parties that competed in Israel’s Knesset elections.”

Rashid himself was an active participant in embezzlement under Arafat and became extremely wealthy—he is now worth more than $500 million. Now, Rashid is asking for an examination of the origin of Abbas’s fortune, estimated at more than $100 million.