...According to Suha, 44, she receives a pension from the Palestinian Authority of $10,000 (£5,000) a month -- a large sum to many Palestinians but far from the exorbitant figures being bandied around on the eve of Arafat’s death...

...Suha had been accused of living it up in Paris as Arafat braved an Israeli siege of his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

She was rumoured to own properties in the French capital and to spend her time shopping with the wife of Adnan Khashoggi, the billionaire Saudi arms dealer, and the sister of the King of Morocco. None of it was true, she said.

"I have met Mrs Khashoggi once and never went shopping with her," said Suha. "I own no property whatsoever. My rented apartment in Paris is an old, ordinary building."...