“The report contains strong evidence, in my view conclusive evidence, that there’s at least 18 times the level of polonium in Arafat’s exhumed body than there should be. It’s what killed him. Now we need to find out who was holding the gun at that time. I would point to him being given a fatal dose. I don’t think there’s any doubt at all.”

David Barclay — British forensic scientist

“I want to find out who did it and their motive for doing it.”

Zahwa Arafat — Daughter of the late PLO Chairman

Yasser Arafat was appointed leader of the PLO on February 4 1969 at the meeting of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) in Cairo. Arafat continued to be PLO leader for 35 years, until his death on November 11 2004. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Numerous theories have appeared regarding Arafat’s death, with the most prominent being poisoning (possibly by polonium) and AIDS-related illnesses, as well as liver disease.

In September 2005, an Israeli AIDS expert claimed that Arafat bore all the symptoms of AIDS based on obtained medical records.

But others, including Patrice Mangin of the University of Lausanne and The New York Times, disagreed with this claim, insisting that Arafat’s record indicated that it was highly unlikely that the cause of his death was AIDS.

Arafat’s personal doctor Ashraf al-Kurdi and aide Bassam Abu Sharif maintained that Arafat was poisoned, possibly by thallium.

The first forensic tests on samples taken from Yasser Arafat’s corpse have shown unexpectedly high levels of radioactive polonium-210, suggesting the Palestinian leader could have been poisoned with the rare and lethal substance.

The Swiss scientists who tested Arafat’s remains after the exhumation of his body in November 2012 discovered levels of polonium at least 18 times higher than usual in Arafat’s ribs, pelvis and in soil that absorbed his bodily fluids.

On December 26 2013, a team of Russian scientists released a report saying they had found no trace of radioactive poisoning—a finding that comes after the French report found traces of the radioactive isotope polonium.

Vladimir Uiba, the head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, said that Arafat died of natural causes and the agency had no plans to conduct further tests.

The Swiss experts read the French and Russian reports and argued that the radiologic data measured by the other teams support their conclusions of a probable death by polonium poisoning.

In March 2015, a French prosecutor closed a 2012 inquiry, stating that French experts had determined Arafat’s death was of natural causes, and that the polonium and lead traces found were environmental.

Killing Arafat – Al Jazeera Investigations

Al Jazeera’s Clayton Swisher reports on the tests that led to the Swiss scientists reporting high levels of polonium Yasser Arafat’s bones.

REFERENCES

Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with polonium, tests show — The Guardian

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On This Day — Palestine National Congress appoints Yasser Arafat chairman of the PLO (February 4 1969)