November 2011: Israel paid Syrian President Bashar Assad’s grand-uncle $100 million for the Golan Heights before the Six-Day War in 1967, says a former close friend to assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.

Dr. Mahmoud Jame’ stated Sadat was briefed on the deal, according to the Jordanian-based Albawaba website. Jame’, a member of the first Consultative Council in Egypt, stated, “One morning Sadat took me with him in private and without a guard to the (Syrian part of the) Golan Heights, and I swear by the Almighty G-d that he put his hand on my shoulder and as we were standing on the Golan Heights, he told me literally, ‘Look, Mahmoud, this is the Golan. Can any power seize it so easily, even if it is Israel?”

Sadat’s friend replied, “This is impossible,” and Sadat replied, “I will tell you a dangerous secret, the Golan Heights were purchased by Israel for $100 million. The check was received by both Hafez and Rifa’at al-Assad and deposited in their accounts in a Swiss bank.” In return, Hafez Assad, order the Syrian forces to withdraw immediately from the Golan Heights in the June 1967 war without firing a single shot and handing it over to Israel, Jame’ continued.

“This story and my testimony of this event, has been kept secret for many years until 1999, when I alluded in the book ‘I Knew Sadat’ to the incident without revealing the full details.

“In 2006, when I was hosted by Almihwar channel, I provided the full details frankly, to the extent that even Moataz was stunned. “The next day, Almihwar hosted Mr. Amin Gemayel, Lebanon’s former president, and the subject was raised with him. He supported my words. Then the Beirut-based Future channel tried to invite me to Beirut to discuss the subject, but I apologized, and refused.”

Evelyn Lauder, senior corporate vice president at the cosmetics empire founded by her mother-in-law, Estee Lauder, knew the power of color. And pink was hers. Evelyn Lauder who created the pink ribbon that came to symbolize the worldwide fight against breast cancer has died at the age of 75.

At first, she and her husband Leonard largely financed the symbol that she created in 1992 with former Self Magazine editor-in-chief Alexandra Penney. Little pink bows handed to women at department store makeup counters — to remind them to get their annual breast exams — led to a multimillion dollar campaign funded by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, including some $50 million from the Lauders. The money that was raised helped found the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Cancer Center at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York in 2009.

Lauder was born Evelyn Hausner in 1936 in Vienna, Austria. Her Jewish parents took their baby and fled the flames of Nazi-occupied Europe, settling in the safety of the United States. The young immigrant attended public school in New York City and then began to attend CUNY’s Hunter College, when she met her husband, Estee Lauder’s elder son. They married in 1959.

Evelyn Lauder had a passion for photography, for food and for writing, and is the author of the book, “In Great Taste: Fresh, Simple Recipes for Eating and Living Well.” She died on Saturday at her New York City home, from complications of non-genetic ovarian cancer, diagnosed in 2007. Lauder is survived by her husband Leonard, who is now chairman emeritus of Estee Lauder. Her son William is executive chairman of the firm, and second son Gary is managing director of Lauder Partners LLC, a technology investment firm.