A Final Farewell to Yasser Arafat
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Carol Costello this morning. Our top stories, the body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is being flown to Ramallah in the West Bank for burial at his compound there. Several Palestinian are already at the site awaiting the casket's arrival. You are looking at a live picture right now of the scene. Street-to-street, alley-to-alley, building-to-building, U.S. soldiers are fighting small cells of insurgents in southern Falluja. So far, in "Operation New Dawn", 18 Americans, and more than 500 insurgents, have been killed. In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, one American soldier has been killed by small arms fire. Few details are available. The soldier was assigned to Task Force Olympia. New Yorkers remember those killed three years ago, today, when American airlines Flight 587 crashed in Queens. Memorial services will be held in the Bell Harbor neighborhood for the 265 victims. Now, let's take another look at the weather outside.</s>WHITFIELD: A final farewell to Yasser Arafat. The leader of the Palestinian people is being buried this morning. Military service in Cairo, Egypt ended about an hour ago. Let's go there live where our Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour joins us. And did things go according to plan, Christiane?</s>CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INT'L CORRESPONDENT: Well, it did, actually. Although we never quite knew the exact, precise plan until it unfolded. But it was always meant to be about an hour, hour and a half long, which it was. And indeed, the body now, is enroot by air, to Ramallah, where it will be interred in that compound that was virtually demolished over the last three years of the Israeli siege there. Yasser Arafat has been described as a colossal and deeply flawed figure. He was a prominent, one of the most key members of the international community over the last 30 years. He forced his people's plight onto the world stage and became their singular champion for an independent state. So, the military honors that he was afforded by Egypt, here where I am, as an official funeral, to which heads of state were invited, heads of government, foreign ministers, from all over the Arab world, from Africa, from Asia, Europe and a mid-level representation from the United States. They came, not just to pay last respects to Yasser Arafat, the man, but also to honor the cause that he espoused all his life. And that is, the struggle of the Palestinian people for an independent and democratic state. His body was in a casket draped by a Palestinian flag. It was carried on a carriage, by six horses, mounted by Egyptian military guards. And in the front a rider less horse was led. As many, many of the world leaders, a huge phalanx of princes, sheiks, emirs, presidents, prime minister, foreign ministers, and other representatives follow that cortege down to the military base, which is about 200 meters from where I am, for the final loading onto a military aircraft and flying off to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. One of the most poignant moments of today's service here in Cairo was the sight, at the very end of the ceremony, of his little daughter, nine-year-old Zahwa (ph), who had not seen her father for years and who in fact had left the occupied territories with her mother many years ago. And she had not been with her father during the final two weeks as he lay on his deathbed in Paris. And there she was sobbing and saying good bye to the father that, by most accounts, she barely knew. But, who, to many people around the world, was a legendary, revolutionary figure, guerrilla, a terrorist at times, and indeed, a peacemaker and a Nobel Laureate. As I say he's been described as a deeply flawed figure, who in the end, descended his people into a spiral of violence and could not close at deal that would seal a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but who was nonetheless, there most stalwart, most tireless, champion for statehood and the face of Palestinian identity, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Christiane Amanpour from Cairo, where the ceremony took place a little over an hour ago. And now, the body of Yasser Arafat is making its way to Ramallah. Well, speculation is running rampant about a supposed secret fortune controlled by Arafat. But where would Arafat have gotten hundreds of millions of dollars. As CNN's Anderson Cooper reports, it came from almost everywhere.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There were no trappings, no visible perks, no pretensions, to the contrary, Yasser Arafat lived in a ruined compound on the West Bank, dressed humbly, to say the least. He was, by all appearances, as impoverished as his stateless Palestinian people. And yet, the president of the Palestinian Authority may have been worth hundreds of millions of dollars.</s>BASSAM EID, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: Which, you know, makes the Palestinian so sick when they are hearing about such a huge amount of money.</s>COOPER: He did not leave a will, CNN has been told. This may account for the tug of war in the last week of Arafat's life between those who would succeed him and his wife, Suha, more than 30 years his junior, who didn't live with him, saw him rarely, was disdained by many Palestinians as a spoiled socialite. To an Israeli observer, she had one card to play.</s>SHUMEL BAR, FMR. ISRAELI INTEL OFFICER: What Suha wanted to do, apparently, was to get hold of the money, which was specifically in Arafat's name. Because she, as his wife, of course, had a claim to part of it and she knew that the only hold she has, actually, the leverage she has, is the body and the burial.</s>COOPER: Where did all the money come from? First, from oil-rich Arab states, and later on, after the Oslo peace accords, there were donations to the PLO from Europe and Japan and the U.S. And hundreds of millions of dollars came from Israel, too, though, not in the form of donations. These were sales taxes levied on goods bought in Israel, by Palestinians, deposited into an account Arafat maintained at a bank in Tel Aviv.</s>BAR: We actually gave Arafat the money on a personal basis. There is no doubt he gave some of that money to his wife, Suha, who lived in Paris. The question is, how much? Some Palestinian sources say about $100,000 a month. Earlier this year, French prosecutors launched and investigation into the transfer of $11 million into two bank accounts held by Suha. Arafat personally controlled funds worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as a form of political leverage. And he invested, too, in factories, cell phone companies, hotels, real estate. Only two things seem certain, first, very little of that money, however much it was, ever got to the people Yasser Arafat represented, and two, the money, however much it was, will be very hard to find.</s>WHITFIELD: That report from CNN's Anderson Cooper. Again, Arafat, did not leave behind a will. Last year, "Forbes" magazine reported his worth at $300 million. Well, people across the Arab world have been reacting to the death of Yasser Arafat. We'll take a look at the reaction in just a few minutes. And later, we take you life to Falluja for the latest on the urban combat and what is ahead for U.S. and Iraqi troops. But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.</s>WHITFIELD: Let's look, now, at the prospects for renewed peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians now that Arafat is dead. For some perspective, we're joined by former Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin. He's in London this morning. Good to see you again, Jamie.</s>JAMES RUBIN, FMR. U.S.  ASSIST. SECRETARY OF STATE: Good morning to you.</s>WHITFIELD: Well, how urgently should the U.S. be reaching out to the successors of Arafat to try to get the talks going between the Israelis and the Palestinians?</s>RUBIN: Well, I think it is very important for Washington to send a signal to the Palestinian new leadership that we are prepared to work with them. I don't think we want to go too far and blessing the new leader as somehow Washington's man, because that could hurt him at home. But we have to send a signal, privately, that this time around. If the new leader, Mr. Abbas, for example, takes the steps necessary to crack down on terrorism, to make clear that Palestinian legitimate rights are going to be achieved through negotiation, not through violence. Then we have to make sure that the Palestinians get the benefit of that choice. And that means working with Israel and the Palestinians to build up the Palestinian Authority again, so they have the power to bring benefit to their own people. If they don't do that, we're in for a long, long period of chaos and infighting.</s>WHITFIELD: And you mentioned Abbas, but he really is part of an equation of at least three leaders, three people who are carrying out the leadership roles of what Arafat did, solely. But you also warned of the U.S. not endorsing any one leader for the sake of causing some harm at home. What potentially could happen among the Palestinian people, if the U.S. were to embrace one or two particular people?</s>RUBIN: I think what happens is right now it should be no secret to the American people that America is extremely unpopular in this part of the world. And an endorsement from the United States is in many cases the kiss of death. So, what we don't want to do is send a signal that one particular leader is Washington's man. We do want to send a signal that with the passing of Yasser Arafat the United States is prepared to re-engage if the Palestinians make the right choices. This administration has not been engaged in the Middle East peace process, has not used the power of the presidency or the secretary of state-ship to work this problem. And that is really unprecedented; every other president has done so. So, we need to reverse that. But we don't want to do it in such a way that the new Palestinian leader is infected with the radio activity, really, that has become so prevalent in this part of the world when it comes to Washington.</s>WHITFIELD: Do you think that somewhere within the next 60 days, since in 60 days that is when an election is to take place, under the current Palestinian law, that perhaps some other leaders may emerge. Because, for example Palestinians may not embrace who is now the PLO head, Mahmoud Abbas, by merely the fact that he once fell out with Yasser Arafat. And he has been criticized, also, for studying Israeli history.</s>RUBIN: Look, I'm sure that whoever follows Yasser Arafat will not have the broad base of support that he was able to build up over decades. At this point, we don't really see that outside kind of figure, but obviously we could be surprised. I would expect that at this point, Mr. Abbas, Abu Mazen, as he's also known, will move toward the presidency through this election process and will that election. But what he won't have is the kind of broad base of support, not just the security services, not just the Palestinian Liberation Organization, by the so-called street, the younger people in the Palestinian refugee camps. So, he's going to have to make alliances with all these other groups. And I don't think he'll ever have the charismatic father -- be the charismatic father figure that Yasser Arafat was. But we don't need charisma now; we need serious leadership. We need someone who is going to put the cause and the actual reality of Palestinian life ahead of their own place in history. And I think, for now, Abu Mazen will serve that purpose, because he seems determined to actually want to help the Palestinian people. When he said that this recent two-year's worth of violence, three-year's worth of violence, has harmed the Palestinian cause, that told you, you were dealing with someone who is a realist, who understands what the real interests of the Palestinians are.</s>WHITFIELD: And real quickly, I'm going to let you go, but a yes or no answer, if you could. You know, the White House is being urged by Tony Blair to appoint some sort of Middle East envoy, good idea?</s>RUBIN: Well, it is fine. But the real envoy has to be the secretary of State. That is when you know when the administration is serious.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, former assistant secretary of State, Jamie Rubin.</s>RUBIN: Thank you.</s>WHITFIELD: Thanks very much for joining us this morning from London. Well, Yasser Arafat's military funeral, in Egypt, ended just about an hour ago. His life had become to symbolize the decades old Palestinian struggle for homeland. And his death and legacy was covered extensively on Arab television Al Jazeera. Octavia Nasr, our senior editor of Arab affairs, has this report.</s>OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. ARAB AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Palestinian national anthem playing as the coffin of PLO chairman Yasser Arafat leaves to Cairo, a scene that would play over and over again on the Arab news channel, Al Jazeera. A reporter describing with great emotion how this ceremony is fit only for the world leader Arafat was. According to this report Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Arafat's arch-enemy, got a major set back because of how Arafat's life has ended. The reporter boasts, Sharon, who wanted to squeeze Arafat to death in his compound, is now squeezed to watch all of this stately treatment on television. Al Jazeera rolled in a special animation to bring its viewers full coverage of the legacy of Arafat, the resistance fighter, the diplomat, and most importantly, this reporter says, the only leader and true father the Palestinian people have ever had. While most guests paid condolences and were hopeful about the future, others questioned the real reasons of death, many blaming it directly, or indirectly, on Israel. This woman says the resistance will continue with Arafat, or without him. This PLO official agrees, he says the only answer to violent occupation is resistance. In between guests and live coverage, historical moments in Arafat's life were highlighted. The famous U.N. speech, "don't let me drop the olive branch I hold in my hand." And the famous handshake with Prime Minister Rabin, on the lawn of the White House. Coverage that is well planned and carefully executed with subtle admiration of the late leader.</s>WHITFIELD: Octavia Nasr, and she'll be joining us, next hour, to talk about Arab funeral rituals. Trapped here like rats. That is how a U.S. Army commander describes the insurgents his men are fighting in southern Falluja. CNN's Jane Arraf, with the soldiers in Falluja, filed this report earlier this morning.</s>JANE ARRAF, CNN INT'L CORRESPONDENT: They're on the southern edge of Falluja, where you can hear explosions behind me. There still is scattered gunfire. There are clearly insurgents still here. Now, the commander of the task force that we're with, the Army task force, tells us that he believes that insurgents have been trapped here like rats, in his words, as they have been pushed out of other parts of the city. His unit breached the defenses, reached a breach point very early this morning, where they used wire guided missiles and artillery and machine gunfire, to be able to break through the barriers. And they have come through pushing south until they reached this part of the city. Now this is a residential area, but absolutely deserted. The only people we've seen have been actually dead bodies, suspected insurgents lying on the ground as we came through. And people actually shooting at the soldiers, but apart from that no civilians in sight. The Iraqi intervention forces, who are also working in this sector, tell us they haven't seen any civilians either, but they have found evidence of foreign fighters. They say they have discovered several identification papers on dead insurgents, indicating that they were from neighboring Arab countries.</s>WHITFIELD: The Falluja offensive began Sunday. And the Army commander says it is progressing ahead of schedule. That report from CNN's Jane Arraf, embedded with the U.S. Army in Falluja. Every morning, around this time, DAYBREAK puts you history skills to the test. Today's trivia question: On this day in 1954, what famous New York landmark closed? The answer, right after this.</s>WHITFIELD: Well did you figure out the answer to our history trivia question? On this day in 1954, what famous New York landmark closed? The Ellis Island Immigration Station closed after welcoming 20 million people into America since it opened in 1892. The historical site re-opened, for tourists, in 1976. Health headlines for you this morning, now. A new vaccine might prevent most cases of the most common cancers for women. The vaccine stops the virus linked to more than 70 of cervical cancer cases. About a quarter million women die each year of cervical cancer. The vaccine was developed by GlaxoSmithKline. And if you are looking for a way to stop smoking, the best way just might be by combining an anti-depressant pill with the nicotine patch. A new study finds using the patch with the drug Nortriptoline (ph), can double the likelihood of kicking the habit. And yet another reason for new moms to breastfeed; a new report says nursing for even a few months can lower the odds a child will develop leukemia. After reviewing 15 different studies, researchers found breastfeeding is linked to a lower risk of ALL the most common form of childhood leukemia. And for more on this, or any other health stories, head to our Web site, CNN.com/health. The next hour of DAYBREAK begins in two minutes.