Moussa Arafat was linked to corruption charges and had many powerful enemies, and it was thought that his killing was related to internal conflicts. The gunmen fired at his house in Gaza City and fired rocket-propelled grenades, then stormed the house, killing Arafat. His oldest son, Manhal, who is a senior security official, was either kidnapped or escaped, police at the scene said. The brazen killing was certain to shake Palestinian politics, just as Abbas struggles to assert control of Gaza with the Israeli pullout.
Arafat was a founder of the ruling Fatah movement and was a senior official in the Fatah Revolutionary Council, a top policy-making body. The council had been scheduled to meet later Wednesday. After he was fired from his security chief position, Arafat was given the considerably less influential job of military adviser to Abbas.
An Associated Press Television News cameraman saw Moussa Arafat's body being taken from the house to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, but angry bodyguards prevented him from taking pictures. There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority. A spokesman said a statement would be issued later Wednesday. Arafat was a target of previous assassination attempts and always traveled in a heavily guarded convoy, using an armored limousine that once transported Yasser Arafat
Arafat, like his cousin, was heavily invested with corruption within the Palestinian Authority and this maybe grudge settling time but if I was Abbas I would be taking a long hard look at what Kaddoumi has been up to lately as this strikes close to the heart of Fatah and a prudent man who be busy lobbying foreign governments for a safe haven to be utilized sometime in the near future.
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