Yasser Arafat’s Body May Be Exhumed
Former Palestinian Authority head Yasser Arafat may have died of radioactive poisoning, Al Jazeera is reporting.
Reuters said Palestinian leaders had agreed to allow his body to be exhumed to perform tests that could confirm or refute the account.
Al Jazeera’s report released Tuesday, following a nine-month investigation, cites findings by The Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland to suggest that he was poisoned with polonium-210.
The laboratory used clothing, a toothbrush and other personal effects, provided by Arafat’s widow, Suha. Suha Arafat has called for her husband’s body to be exhumed, in order to test his bones for the radioactive element.
“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,” said Dr. Francois Bochud, the director of the institute, according to Al Jazeera.
Arafat died eight years ago, after suddenly becoming ill in October 2004,
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
