Dubai: In life, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was a controversial figure. Now, eight years after his death, the very manner of his passing has become shrouded in mystery.
New findings released yesterday following a following a nine-month investigation by Doha-based Al Jazeera broadcaster show Arafat had traces of the highly lethal polonium in his system — the same extremely rare radioactive element used to assassinate Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is urging the international community to set up a special tribunal to investigate Arafat’s death — and it is laying the blame squarely on the shoulders of Israel.
Tests conducted on Arafat’s belongings at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland. show they contained “abnormal” levels of polonium — with traces in his clothes, toothbrush and iconic kaffiyah.
“I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr. Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids,” Dr. Francois Bochud, the director of the institute, was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.
Arafat’s effects contained traces of his blood, sweat, saliva and urine, and the tests found that there was a high level of polonium in his body when he died.
“The entire Palestinian public will seek justice be made by the international community which should take action and follow the steps of setting an international tribunal to investigate the assassination of the Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Al Hariri,” Jamal Muhaisen, a member of the Fatah Central Committee told Gulf News yesterday.
Any failure by the PNA to properly investigate Arafat’s death and the most recent findings will “have grave consequences on its credibility and legitimacy”, said Hani Al Masri, a Ramallah-based analyst, adding the findings showed “shortcomings in the Palestinian investigation committee.”
“What made Al Jazeera reach such a conclusion could have also have been reached by the Palestinian committee had it paid attention for a sufficient period of time,” Al Masri told Gulf News. “The committee had the resources and more chances. It knew where Arafat was living, with whom, and where his belongings were,” Masri told Gulf News.
Arafat was reportedly in good health until October 12, 2004, when he fell ill suddenly.
His widow, Suha has called for her late husband’s body to be exhumed from its Ramallah grave to allow for further conclusive tests.
“After the Al-Jazeera broadcast I met today with President [Mahmoud] Abbas and recommended accepting an analysis of the body of the martyr president Arafat, and Abbas for his part agreed on the condition that the family... accepts,” said Tawfiq Tirawi, a PNA spokesman.
As much polonium as contained in a grain of salt is fatal, experts say.
Arafat, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who led the struggle for Palestinian statehood for nearly four decades, died on November 11, 2004, following several weeks of unsuccessful treatment for multiple failure. He was airlifted to France from his besieged headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to a Paris hospital for treatment.
French officials, citing privacy laws, refused to reveal the precise cause of death or the nature of his condition, fuelling a host of rumours and theories as to the cause of his illness.
At the time of his death at the age of 75, Palestinian officials charged he had been poisoned by long-time foe Israel, but an inconclusive Palestinian investigation in 2005 ruled out cancer, AIDS or poisoning.
The Al-Jazeera investigation included testing for HIV and leukaemia, neither of which were detected.
To confirm the theory that the Palestinian leader was poisoned by polonium it would be necessary to exhume and analyse Arafat’s remains, Bochud said.
“If [Suha Arafat] really wants to know what happened to her husband [we need] to find a sample — I mean, an exhumation... should provide us with a sample that should have a very high quantity of polonium if he was poisoned,” he said.
— With inputs from Nasouh Nazzal, a correspondent in Ramallah, and agencies.
