Moussa Arafat represented everything wrong with the Palestinian National Authority — nepotism, corruption, brutality, and incompetence. As one person in Gaza stated, ?he was bad and his killing was revenge for what he had done.? Moussa Arafat, a founding member of Fatah , a senior official of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, head of military intelligence, and short lived Security Chief, benefited greatly by being the cousin of Yasser Arafat . But, being Arafat?s cousin proved to be a double edged sword. Those close to Yasser Arafat were handsomely fed at the Palestinian Authority trough, but they often ended up being targeted by the Israeli military or by Palestinian factions.

Major General Moussa Arafat had no shortage of enemies in Gaza. The former head of Military Intelligence had a reputation for brutality when it came to dealing with the various armed groups in Gaza. In 1996, Moussa Arafat led the crackdown on Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, ordering that the beards and heads of these prisoners be shaved to humiliate them.