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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Swiss, Russian experts rule out Arafat killed by radioactive polonium
2013-10-25
Swiss and Russian experts who participated in exhuming and applying tests on the remains of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ruled out in their report that radioactive polonium caused his death in 2004, local sources said Thursday.

However, the report, which the Palestinian National Authority ( PNA) received, did not discount the possibility that Arafat was intoxicated with a different poisonous material, the sources told Xinhua.

General Tawfiq Al-Tirrawi, the head of the Palestinian committee investigating Arafat's death, declined to comment on the information obtained by Xinhua, but said a press conference will be held soon to reveal the results of the report.

In November, the Swiss, Russian and French experts took samples from Arafat's remains for more tests after an investigative media report found out that Arafat's personal belonging bore traces of the polonium-210.

The report was carried out by the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera television network and the team of the documentary movie used a Swiss lab to examine Arafat's clothes, toothbrush and bedcovers after getting them from his widow.

Arafat died at a French military hospital in 2004 from an undisclosed or unknown condition.

At the time, Palestinian officials hinted that Israel was behind the death of Arafat after it prevented him from leaving his Ramallah headquarters for two years.
Posted by:Theting Glasing4448

#8  Igor was the guy that dug up the body of the Arafish.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2013-10-25 23:42  

#7  I thought it was Boris and Natasha...
Posted by: CrazyFool   2013-10-25 17:48  

#6  I think the Russians got him.

Discounting polonium means the swiss scientists and the Russian scientists got a visit and heart to heart talk from Boris and Igor late one night.
Posted by: Bill Clinton   2013-10-25 17:34  

#5  I recollect a couple of weeks ago there was a report that polonium in body fluid stains had been found on his clothing and personal effects in trace amounts. They were next going to examine the corpse.

Yup, Wikipedia article on polonium has links. Peer reviewed article recently published by Lancet. Why the discrepancy?

People simply don't have significant amounts of polonium in their body fluids unless they have been working with radium or uranium. However, Arafat was a heavy smoker, as I recollect, so that may have contributed to the trace readings. 210Po is thought to be the cause behind lung cancer associated with smoking.
Posted by: KBK   2013-10-25 14:17  

#4  Arafat's been dead 9 years and Polonium has a half life of only a few months - how much would be left to detect? And could you distinguish the daughter products from Paleo remedies for AIDS?
Posted by: Glenmore   2013-10-25 09:41  

#3  Hint: Find the dreaded Red Notebook™
Posted by: Frank G   2013-10-25 07:53  

#2  "from an undisclosed or unknown condition"

Yeah right.

"that Arafat was intoxicated with a different poisonous material"

not necessarily by oral means
Posted by: European Conservative   2013-10-25 07:36  

#1  At the time, Palestinian officials hinted that Israel was behind the death of Arafat after it prevented him from leaving his Ramallah headquarters for two years.

Obviously he should have never left his headquarters. I blame French leeks and wild mushrooms.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-10-25 04:06  

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