Yasser Arafat's widow: Palestinian leaders want to 'turn me into a traitor'

Late President's wife claims PA leaders have given 'instructions' to publicly chastise her, after she apologised to the UAE for Palestinians burning the country's flag

The wife of Yasser Arafat accused Palestinian leaders of trying to “turn me into a traitor”, after she defended Israel’s normalisation deal with the United Arab Emirates.

The late leader’s wife, Suha, posted on Instagram apologising to “the UAE people and leadership for the profanation and burning of their flag in Jerusalem and Palestine and for insulting the symbols of the beloved UAE,” according to the Times.

Suha, who lives in Malta, then gave a rare interview with an Israeli TV station, Kan, claiming: “There are instructions to turn me into a traitor and these instructions come from the head of the president’s office”.

She added, if her husband, who died in 2004, were alive today, he would have asked UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed to “help me with [Benjamin] Netanyahu.

But to go and say an Arab country is a betrayer? Enough with the slogans. We collaborate with Israel, with the Shin Bet and Mossad. Who are you kidding?”, she said, according to Times of Israel.

This comes after Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalise relations, with El Al completing its historic first publicly advertised flight to the gulf state on Sunday, which travelled through Saudi airspace.