RAMALLAH, February 6, 2018 (WAFA) – The Yasser Arafat Foundation said on Tuesday that it will sue any party that stole or claimed possession of any part of the notebooks of the late Palestinian leader.

The Foundation specified the Italian L’Espresso magazine for publishing on Thursday what it claimed were “the secret diaries of Arafat.”

“What L’Espresso magazine has published regarding what it called were Yasser Arafat diaries is illegal and violates journalistic ethics,” said Nasser al-Kidwa, head of the Yasser Arafat Foundation.

“What the magazine has said that a third party had seen these notes and that the magazine did not see them directly puts a big question mark on this subject,” he said in a statement. “At the same time, the magazine is well aware that it has received them illegally and without the consent of the stakeholders; in other words, this material is stolen.”

He said that these extracts are false and that there are no copies or parts of Arafat‘s notes in the possession of anyone.

The Italian magazine said the 19 volumes of Arafat notes, which it said “are a mine of information narrating political agreements, war actions and business operations that until now had remained obscure” and cover the period between 1985 and October 2004, “were entrusted to two Luxembourg trustees, who after a long negotiation gave over the documents to a French foundation with the clause that the content of the diaries will be used only as ‘study documents’, and will not provide any content for books or films.”

Kidwa said that Arafat, who died at a French hospital in November 2004, left behind books in which he recorded his observations on the political events during his time as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and as President of Palestine after 1996. He said these books are in the hands of the Yasser Arafat Foundation, which will review their content before presenting them to the public once a political decision regarding this is made.

One of these books is on display at the Yasser Arafat Museum in Ramallah.

Kidwa said “the Foundation, with the support of the concerned authorities, will take the necessary legal measures to prosecute anyone who stole or claimed possession of any part of these books and to prosecute anyone who tries to distort the symbolism of President Arafat and his struggle to serve suspicious agendas.”

M.K.