Suha Arafat on what it means to be a good dad, her daughter, and tearful goodbyes:
A long part of the interview centered on Arafat’s functioning as a father.”Abu Amar, like any other man, wanted a boy. But when Zawa was born, it quickly passed”, she added. According to Suha, “Arafat loved his daughter, he used to give her many presents, and when she was sick he always came to visit her”… “The decision to leave Arafat and the territories was not easy, but I got used to it. I became accustomed to Paris and so did Zawa”, she noted.
You should have sympathy for this woman. The adjustment to exile in Paris was really brutal:
Suha developed a reputation for extravagance after moving to Paris, where she receives a $100,000 monthly allowance from the PA budget. Her dyed-blonde hair, frequent purchases of expensive French designer clothes and high-profile social life provoked critics in the territories to distribute leaflets with reports from the Arab and Western media about her shopping sprees. She told Vogue magazine that her husband once compared her to former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos after seeing her large shoe collection.
