PLO calls for international inquiry into Arafat death

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has called for an international inquiry into what it calls the “killing” of Yasser Arafat, after Swiss scientists revealed that the late PLO leader may have died from polonium poisoning.

“The (test) results proved Arafat was poisoned by polonium, and this substance is owned by states, not people, meaning that the crime was committed by a state,” Wasel Abu Yousef of the PLO’s executive committee said on Thursday.

“Just as a committee was formed to investigate the killing of (slain Lebanese prime minister) Rafiq Hariri, there must be an international committee to investigate the killing of president Arafat,” he added.

The call came after Swiss scientists said in a report that the results of tests on remains of Arafat’s body “moderately support the proposition that the death was the consequence of poisoning with polonium-210.”

Arafat died in 2004 at the age of 75 at a Paris military hospital. French doctors said at the time that they were unable to determine the origin of his illness.

Swiss Professor Francois Bochud said at a press conference on Thursday that his team measured levels of polonium about 20 times higher than it was used to detecting in its research.

“By definition, that indicates third party involvement. Our results offer moderate backing for the theory of poisoning,” Bochud added.

He said his team “…can’t say that polonium was the source of his death…nor can we rule it out.”

Arafat’s body was exhumed in November 2012 after continuing claims from his widow, Suha Arafat, that he was murdered.

Many Palestinians have believed that Israel was responsible for poisoning the late Palestinian leader. But Tel Aviv has denied any connection to Arafat’s death.

Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, on Wednesday dismissed the report as “inconclusive,” adding that it “is not a scientific proof determining the cause of death” but more of a “soap opera.”