Related: Did the French Finish Arafat's Autopsy?
Took them a while, but yeah, they did:
"Possible evidence of Arafat poisoning is reported" by Mohammed Daraghmeh | Associated Press, November 07, 2013
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Swiss scientists have found evidence suggesting Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with a radioactive substance, a TV station reported Wednesday, prompting new allegations by his widow that the Palestinian leader was the victim of a ‘‘shocking’’ crime.
Palestinian officials have long accused Israel of poisoning Arafat, a claim Israel has denied. Arafat died under mysterious circumstances at a French military hospital in 2004, a month after falling ill at his Israeli-besieged West Bank compound.
Cui bono?
The findings reported Wednesday appear to be the most significant so far in an inquiry into Arafat’s death initiated by his widow, Suha, and the satellite TV station Al-Jazeera.
Last year, Switzerland’s Institute of Radiation Physics discovered traces of polonium-210, a deadly radioactive isotope, on some of Arafat’s belongings. Soil and bone samples were subsequently taken from Arafat’s grave in the West Bank.
Where could that have come from?
On Wednesday, the TV station published the Swiss team’s 108-page report on the soil and bone samples. The results ‘‘moderately support the proposition that the death was the consequence of poisoning with polonium-210,’’ the report said.
Repeated attempts to reach the main author, Patrice Mangin, or the Lausanne-based institute’s spokesman, Darcy Christen, were unsuccessful.
Experts not connected to the report said the results support the case that Arafat was poisoned, but do not prove it.
Suha Arafat told Al-Jazeera she was stunned and saddened by the findings.
She did not mention Israel, but suggested that a country with nuclear capability was involved in her husband’s death. ‘‘I can’t accuse anyone, but how many countries have an atomic reactor that can produce polonium?’’ she said.
Polonium can be a byproduct of the chemical processing of uranium, but usually is made artificially in a nuclear reactor or a particle accelerator. Israel has a nuclear research center and is widely believed to have a nuclear arsenal, but remains ambiguous about the subject.
Arafat’s widow demanded that a Palestinian committee that has been investigating her husband’s death now try to find ‘‘the real person who did it.’’
The committee also received a copy of the report, but declined comment.
The head of the committee, Tawfik Tirawi, said details would be presented at a news conference in two days, and that the Palestinian Authority, led by Arafat successor Mahmoud Abbas, would announce what it plans to do next.
Who benefited?
An official in Abbas’ Fatah movement raised the possibility of taking the case to the International Criminal Court. ‘‘We will pursue this crime, the crime of the century,’’ said Abbas Zaki.
Raanan Gissin, who was an Israeli government spokesman when Arafat died, reiterated Wednesday that Israel had no role in his death.
‘‘It was a government decision not to touch Arafat at all,’’ he said, adding that ‘‘if anyone poisoned him, it could have been someone from his close circle.’’
Poisoned him for who?
Arafat died Nov. 11, 2004, a month after falling violently ill. French doctors said he died of a massive stroke and had suffered from a blood condition known as disseminated intravascular coagulation, or DIC. But the records were inconclusive about what led to the DIC, which has numerous possible causes, including infections and liver disease.
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"Inquiry of Arafat’s death unfolds like murder mystery" by Mohammed Daraghmeh and John Heilprin | Associated Press, November 08, 2013
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Yasser Arafat’s mysterious death in 2004 turned into a whodunit Thursday after Swiss scientists who examined his remains said the Palestinian leader was probably poisoned with radioactive polonium.
Yet hard proof remains elusive, and nine years on, tracking down anyone who might have slipped minuscule amounts of the lethal substance into Arafat’s food or drink could be difficult.
A new investigation could also prove embarrassing — and not just for Israel, which the Palestinians have long accused of poisoning their leader and which Israel has denied.
The Palestinians themselves could come under renewed scrutiny, since Arafat was holed up in his Israeli-besieged West Bank compound in the months before his death, surrounded by advisers, staff, and bodyguards.
Arafat died at a French military hospital on Nov. 11, 2004, at age 75, a month after suddenly falling violently ill at his compound. At the time, French doctors said he died of a stroke and had a blood-clotting problem, but records were inconclusive about what caused that condition.
The Swiss scientists said that they found elevated traces of polonium-210 and lead in Arafat’s remains that could not have occurred naturally, and that the time frame of his illness and death was consistent with poisoning from ingesting polonium.
‘‘Our results reasonably support the poisoning theory,’’ Francois Bochud, director of Switzerland’s Institute of Radiation Physics, which carried out the investigation, said at a news conference.
Bochud and Patrice Mangin, director of the Lausanne University Hospital’s forensics center, said they tested and ruled out innocent explanations, such as accidental poisoning.
‘‘I think we can eliminate this possibility because, as you can imagine, you cannot find polonium everywhere. It’s a very rare toxic substance,’’ Mangin said.
Palestinian officials, including Arafat’s successor, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, had no comment on the substance of the report but promised a continued investigation.
The findings are certain to revive Palestinian allegations against Israel, a nuclear power. Polonium can be a byproduct of the chemical processing of uranium, but usually is made artificially in a nuclear reactor or a particle accelerator.
Arafat’s widow, Suha, called on the Palestinian leadership to seek justice for her husband, saying, ‘‘It’s clear this is a crime.’’
Speaking by phone from the Qatari capital Doha, she did not mention Israel but argued that only countries with nuclear capabilities have access to polonium.
Israel has repeatedly denied a role in Arafat’s death and did so again Thursday. Paul Hirschson, a Foreign Ministry official, dismissed the claim as ‘‘hogwash.’’
‘‘We couldn’t be bothered to’’ kill him, Hirschson said.
Yeah, right.
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"Arafat death mystery foggier after report; Russia finds role of radioactive agent uncertain" by Karin Laub and Mohammed Daraghmeh | Associated Press, November 09, 2013
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Four investigations, hundreds of testimonies, and stacks of medical reports on Yasser Arafat’s unexplained death in 2004 have failed to produce hard evidence of what killed him — and findings presented Friday created more confusion.
Palestinian officials said a report they received from Russia on the role of radioactive polonium in Arafat’s death was inconclusive. They spoke just a day after Swiss scientists said the Palestinian leader was probably poisoned by the rare and extremely lethal substance.
Despite those discrepancies, the Swiss and Russian reports agreed that Arafat’s death “was not caused by old age or disease, but as a result of a toxic substance,” said Dr. Abdullah Bashir, a medical specialist in the three-member Palestinian team that has been investigating. This, he said at a press conference, is in line with the long-standing Palestinian contention that Arafat was poisoned.
The reports revived Palestinian allegations that Israel was behind the attack, despite its denial. The Palestinian team’s leader, Tawfik Tirawi, said Israel had the means and motive.
“I say, with all the details available about Yasser Arafat’s death, that he was killed, and that Israel killed him,” he said. The former Palestinian intelligence chief did not present evidence to back up the claims.
In the four years leading up to his death, Arafat’s relationship with his longtime nemesis, Israel’s prime minister at the time, Ariel Sharon, had become increasingly hostile. Sharon, a hard-liner, blamed Arafat for encouraging anti-Israeli violence instead of working toward a peace deal and kept him isolated at his West Bank compound for extended periods.
That's certainly motive.
Former Sharon aide Raanan Gissin reiterated that Israel had nothing to do with Arafat’s death. ‘‘The Palestinians are using Israel as a scapegoat,’’ he said. “If Arafat was murdered, then [the killer] should be sought among the heads of the Palestinian Authority.”
They are the ones who carried it out for you.
Look, no one believes anything the Israelis say anymore.
Tirawi said his team would spare no effort to solve the mystery, but it was not clear where an investigation could go, considering the Palestinians’ limited technical means. Tirawi said a decision on a possible international tribunal — like the one that investigated the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri — would be up to Arafat’s successor, President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas has not commented on the substance of the latest findings. A new investigation could invite close scrutiny of Israel as well as Palestinian aides and bodyguards who surrounded Arafat in his compound.
Arafat died Nov. 11, 2004, at a French military hospital, a month after falling ill at his West Bank headquarters. At the time, French doctors said he died of a stroke and had a blood-clotting problem, but records were inconclusive about what caused that condition.
The Palestinians launched an investigation, and Tirawi said Friday that it encompassed hundreds of statements from Palestinians and non-Palestinians in the West Bank and around the world.
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