RAMALLAH, West Bank — Digging up Yasser Arafat’s bones might offer the best shot at learning if the legendary Palestinian leader was poisoned, as many of his old comrades-in-arms claim, but Palestinian officials signaled Thursday they are not rushing into an autopsy.
Arafat’s 2004 death remains a mystery. This week’s findings by Switzerland’s Institute of Radiation Physics — that belongings linked to Arafat contained an elevated level of a radioactive agent — have revived speculation about foul play.
However, the institute said more tests are needed. Arafat’s widow, Suha, demanded that her husband’s remains be exhumed from under a glass-and-stone mausoleum in his former West Bank compound.
Arafat’s successor, President Mahmoud Abbas, has agreed to an autopsy in principle, but it seems a final decision will take time.
Abbas aide Nimr Hamad said Thursday that a team of experts would first be sent to Europe to learn more from the Swiss institute and from the French military hospital where Arafat died Nov. 11, 2004.
Another possible hurdle is consent by Arafat’s close relatives, particularly his nephew Nasser al-Kidwa, a former envoy to the United Nations and — as head of the Yasser Arafat Foundation — the custodian of his uncle’s memory.
Earlier this week, al-Kidwa seemed cool to the idea of an autopsy, telling the Arab satellite TV station al-Jazeera that he thinks the findings by the Swiss institute are sufficient proof of his long-standing claim that Arafat was poisoned. Al-Kidwa has not been reachable for comment since then. Abbas has said he’ll order an autopsy only if the family is on board but did not define whom he meant.
A full-blown investigation could lead to uncomfortable questions for the Palestinian leadership. If an autopsy were to reveal that Arafat was poisoned, the probe would also have to look at Palestinians who had access to him.
In the last three years of his life, Arafat was confined by Israel to his walled compound in the city of Ramallah, the Muqata. The Palestinian leader was seen by Israel and the U.S. as an obstacle to peace efforts.
Israel has emphatically denied a role in Arafat’s death.
“Israel did not kill him, I say that with certainty,” said Dov Weisglas, a high-powered aide to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to Israel TV on Thursday. Israel had many chances over the years to assassinate Arafat, but decided not to, Weisglas said.
What is polonium-210 and how deadly is the element?
LONDON — Polonium first hit the headlines when it was used to kill KGB agent-turned-Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. This week, Yasser Arafat’s widow has called for the late Palestinian leader’s body to be exhumed after scientists in Switzerland found elevated traces of radioactive polonium-210 on clothing he allegedly wore before his death in 2004.
Q: What is polonium?
A: Polonium-210 is one of the world’s rarest elements, discovered in 1898 by scientists Marie and Pierre Curie and named in honor of her country of origin, Poland. It occurs naturally in very low concentrations in the Earth’s crust and is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. In small amounts, it has legitimate industrial uses, mainly in devices to eliminate static electricity.
Q: Is it dangerous?
A: If ingested, it is lethal in extremely small doses. Less than 1 gram of the silver powder is sufficient to kill. A 2007 study by radiation experts from Britain’s Health Protection Agency concluded that once polonium-210 is deposited in the bloodstream, its potent effects are nearly impossible to stop. A poisoning victim would experience multiple organ failure as alpha radiation particles bombard the liver, kidneys and bone marrow from within.
Q: Can scientists prove whether Arafat was poisoned with polonium?
A: Scientists caution that traces on Arafat’s clothing aren’t sufficient proof of poisoning. Exhuming his body would be a surer method. Derek Hill, a radiological science expert at University College London, said eight years after Arafat’s death, any polonium would have decayed and would be less radioactive than it was at the time. But he says it would still be much higher than normal background levels. With an autopsy it should be possible to tell “with a pretty high confidence” whether Arafat had polonium in his body when he died. Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
