This is the saddest story I ever heard. The man exposing the corruption of the Palestinian leadership bought a gravestone and his grave... literally before he opened his mouth. Obama's first phone call was to the man who orchestrated and financed the Olympics massacre. Obama's first phone call was to a bully.
The day after Mahmoud Abbas's former corruption czar threatened to expose sleazy practices at the highest levels of Fatah, the Palestinian Authority issued an warrant for his arrest - on charges of corruption.
This follows Fahmi Shabaneh's ultimatum to the Palestinian President: remove the corrupt officials or he will start naming names.
The revelations "would seriously embarrass the PA and even harm its relations with Arab and Muslim countries, as well as donors," Mr. Shabaneh, 49, told the Jerusalem Post.
"Even [Abbas] won't be able to deny the facts when he sees and hears what I have to reveal," he added.
"Everyone should know that many of the senior officials who came from Tunis after the Oslo Accords now have millions of dollars, and palaces."
The PA dismisses his allegations as part of an Israeli conspiracy aimed at undermining Mr. Abbas because of his refusal to return to the negotiating table unconditionally.
The arrest warrant was signed by the PA prosecutor general, who also accused Mr. Shabaneh of involvement in selling land to Jews. However, the man is a resident of Jerusalem, where the PA does not have the power to make arrests.
Last month, the Jerusalem Post ran an exclusive interview with Mr. Shabaneh, who until recently was in charge of the Anti-Corruption Department in the PA's General Intelligence Service.
In it, he said Palestinian Authority officials had enriched themselves by stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in money intended to help struggling Palestinians.
This included much of a US$3.2-million donation from the United States before the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary election.
He also warned that what happened in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007, when Hamas managed to overthrow the Fatah-controlled regime, was likely to recur in the West Bank.
"Had it not been for the presence of the Israeli authorities in the West Bank, Hamas would have done what they did in the Gaza Strip," he said.
"It's hard to find people in the West Bank who support the Palestinian Authority. People are fed up with the financial corruption and mismanagement of the Palestinian Authority."
Mr. Shabaneh also handed the newspaper a videotape of a sting operation involving one of Mr. Abbas's top aides. This showed the man, identified by Mr. Shabaneh as Rafik al-Husseini, undressing and getting into the bed of a Palestinian woman in the hope of having sex.
The tape was aired Wednesday by Israel's Channel 10.
Mr. Shabaneh knows he is putting himself in danger by going public with his accusations.
After the first interview with the Post was published, he said, "I gathered my wife and five children and told them to expect the worst.
"I told them that I have chosen this path and I have no regrets. I bought the grave to make matters easier for my family if and when I'm killed. I even bought the gravestone with my name on it and told my children and wife that all they would have to do now is just add the date of my death."
Obama's first phone call was to corruption.
