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| The chairman of the medical commission of Palestinian inquiry commission into the death of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Abdullah al-Basheer holds a press conference with other Palestinian officials in West Bank City of Ramallah on July 12, 2012. Abdullah al-Basheer said on Thursday that the death of Yasser Arafat was the result of an unknown poison. (Xinhua/Chen Xu) |
RAMALLAH, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was the result of an unknown poison, a Jordanian doctor who started an inquiry in the incident said Thursday.
Arafat's medical reports were unable to diagnose the disease, but indications suggest that he was poisoned by a toxic substance that was not examined at the time, said the doctor, Abdullah al- Basheer, in a news conference upon his arrival to the West Bank.
Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat's successor, ordered the investigation after Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera aired an investigative report concluding that Arafat was poisoned with radioactive polonium.
To confirm al-Jazeera's report, Arafat's body needs to be exhumed for further tests. The Palestinian leadership said it is ready to dig up Arafat's remains for the investigation.
Al-Basheer said the findings of the Lausanne-based Institute of Radiation Physics, which al-Jazeera used for testing Arafat's personal belongings, were difficult to be conclusive due to the lack of previous examples of polonium poisoning.
Arafat died at a French hospital near Paris, three weeks after he was airlifted from his West Bank headquarters, where he spent his last two years under an Israeli siege.
Related:
Palestinians invite Swiss experts to take samples of Arafat's remains
RAMALLAH, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) invited Swiss experts to the West Bank to take samples of late President Yasser Arafat's remains for more tests.
"This reflects the Palestinian leadership's insistence to continue the investigations into the truth and the circumstances of Arafat's death," said Saeb Erekat, a senior member of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Full story
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