Israel linked to death of Arafat: Palestinian investigator

The head of the Palestinian team investigating the death of Yasser Arafat says Israeli officials were involved in the “assassination” of the late leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

PRESSTV | Nov 28, 2012
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In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Tawfik al-Tirawi said there is evidence that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had ordered the assassination of Arafat in a conversation with Shaul Mofaz, the former Israeli minister for military affairs.

On Tuesday, a Palestinian doctor collected the samples of Arafat’s body from his mausoleum in the West Bank city of Ramallah to establish whether his death in Paris in 2004 was the result of poisoning.

Scientists from France, Russia and Switzerland, who were present during the process of taking samples, will carry out tests for polonium-210 and possibly other lethal substances in their respective countries.

Tirawi, who is a former Palestinian intelligence chief, also said that regardless of the positive or negative results of the investigation, the Palestinians and Arab states were certain that Arafat was assassinated, and that the case will stay open until the truth is uncovered.

It is believed that the investigation could take several months. Many Palestinians say the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, poisoned Arafat with a radioactive element.

The exhumation comes after French authorities opened a murder inquiry into Arafat’s death this year after Swiss scientists found traces of polonium, a radioactive substance, on some of his belongings. Polonium is a highly toxic substance rarely found outside military and scientific circles.

The inquiry was launched after Arafat’s widow, Suha Arafat, lodged a formal legal complaint.

SAB/HSN