(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) WHEN PLESTINIAN leader Yasser Arafat died under mysterious circumstances at a Paris military hospital, at the age of 75 in November 2004, many in the Arab world suspected something was amiss following the manner the entire episode was handled.
Arafat, who was virtually under house arrest for more than two years following a siege by the Israeli army of the Ramallah headquarters of his Fatah party, was flown out in a helicopter and then taken to a Paris military hospital for treatment of some mysterious ailment.
Two weeks later he was declared dead, but the cause of his demise was never revealed. Hospital records pertaining to his ailment were also not made public, though there were leaked media reports of him having suffered a stroke following a bleeding disorder. But most Palestinians suspected Israel's hand in his death with the Fatah believing that he had been poisoned by Israeli agents.
Nearly eight years after the passing away of one of the most popular and admired Palestinian leaders, the mystery behind his death is finally unraveling. Arab satellite network Al Jazeera has come out with shocking findings relating to the death of Arafat, following a comprehensive, nine-month-long probe into the incident.
The report, based on an analysis of the personal belongings of the late Palestinian leader - including his clothes, toothbrush and head-dress - by the respected Institute of Radiation Physics, Lausanne, in Switzerland, have revealed elevated levels of polonium-210, a highly radioactive element.
Arafat's widow, Suha, who was determined to find the truth behind her husband's demise, provided the personal belongings to the television network and the Swiss institute. The findings have shocked the global community, especially the Arab world, as it exposes the shallow claims about respect for human rights that are frequently parroted by Israel and its sympathisers in the west.
Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, is likely to clear the demand for an exhumation of the remains of Arafat, whose body was flown back to Ramallah and buried there. His remains are kept in a state mausoleum. Religious authorities and Arafat's close relatives, including Suha, have backed the call for exhumation of the remains. An aide to the President has sought an international inquiry into the death of Arafat, on the lines of the UN-backed tribunal that looked into the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese premier.
The international community should back the demand for a thorough probe into the death of Arafat.
Governments have been known to eliminate fiercely independent and popular leaders such as Arafat by means fair and foul. Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader, survived several such attempts in the past by the CIA. Its rival, the KGB, was more successful, managing to kill Alexander Litvinenko, a former agent and foe of Russia, by lacing his tea with Polonium-210 in London in 2006.
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