Nov04 Yasser Arafat Palestine leader Polonium assassination?

[scienceplease 2]

[TonyGosling]

The original report

Abbas calls for Arafat death investigation
07/05/2012 03:14:27 AM
http://me.aljazeera.net/?name=aj_standard_en&i=8784&guid=2012749495349 0367
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, sees no reason why Yasser Arafat's body should not be exhumed following an Al Jazeera report that he may have died of poisoning, his spokesman said on Wednesday.
Nabil Abu Rudeinah said that the Palestinian Authority would use "Arab and international scientific expertise" to review the findings.
A nine-month investigation by Al Jazeera found that Arafat's final belongings - his clothes, his toothbrush, even his iconic kaffiyeh - contained elevated levels of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element.
Scientists at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, who studied Arafat's personal items, said that his bones could offer more conclusive evidence that he was poisoned.
"There are no political or religious reasons that prevent researching this issue," Abu Rudeinah said, "including the exhumation of Arafat's body by a reliable and trustworthy medical and scientific authority."
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, also called for an international committee to study Arafat's death, similar to the one investigating the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.
"[It] is a must," Erekat told Al Jazeera. "And we will do it first through the United Nations Security Council. We hope everyone will co-operate with us, because we seek the truth and nothing but the truth."
Speaking to Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Suha Arafat, wife of the late Palestinian leader, said the exhumation should take place as soon as possible.
Unsupported polonium
The institute studied Arafat’s personal effects, which his widow provided to Al Jazeera, the first time they had been examined by a laboratory. The items were variously stained with Arafat's blood, sweat, saliva and urine; doctors used those biological samples to look for heavy metals and other poisons.
“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.
It is a highly radioactive element used, among other things, to power spacecraft. Marie Curie discovered it in 1898, and her daughter Irene was among the first people it killed: She died of leukaemia several years after an accidental polonium exposure in her laboratory.
At least two people connected with Israel’s nuclear programme also reportedly died after exposure to the element, according to the limited literature on the subject.
But polonium’s most famous victim was Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy-turned-dissident who died in London in 2006 after a lingering illness. A British inquiry found that he was poisoned with polonium slipped into his tea at a sushi restaurant.
There is little scientific consensus about the symptoms of polonium poisoning, mostly because there are so few recorded cases. Litvinenko suffered severe diarrhoea, weight loss, and vomiting, all of which were symptoms Arafat exhibited in the days and weeks after he initially fell ill.
Animal studies have found similar symptoms, which lingered for weeks - depending on the dosage – until the subject died. “The primary radiation target… is the gastrointestinal tract,” said an American study conducted in 1991, “activating the 'vomiting centre' in the brain-stem.”
Scientists in Lausanne found elevated levels of the element on Arafat’s belongings - in some cases, they were ten times higher than those on control subjects, random samples which were tested for comparison.
The lab’s results were reported in millibecquerels (mBq), a scientific unit used to measure radioactivity.
Polonium is present in the atmosphere, but the natural levels that accumulate on surfaces barely register, and the element disappears quickly. Polonium-210, the isotope found on Arafat's belongings, has a half-life of 138 days, meaning that half of the substance decays roughly every four-and-a-half months.
“Even in case of a poisoning similar to the Litvinenko case, only traces of the order of a few [millibecquerels] were expected to be found in [the] year 2012,” the institute noted in its report to Al Jazeera.
But Arafat’s personal effects, particularly those with bodily fluids on them, registered much higher levels of the element. His toothbrushes had polonium levels of 54mBq; the urine stain on his underwear, 180mBq. (Another man’s pair of underwear, used as a control, measured just 6.7mBq.)
Further tests, conducted over a three-month period from March until June, concluded that most of that polonium – between 60 and 80 per cent, depending on the sample – was “unsupported,” meaning that it did not come from natural sources.
“We got into this very, very painful conclusion, but at least this removes this great burden on me, on my chest,” Suha Arafat said. “At least I’ve done something to explain to the Palestinian people, to the Arab and Muslim generation all over the world, that it was not a natural death, it was a crime.”
A conclusive finding that Arafat was poisoned with polonium would not, of course, explain who killed him. It is a difficult element to produce, though – it requires a nuclear reactor – and the signature of the polonium in Arafat’s bones could provide some insight about its origin.

[Disco_Destroyer]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-07/10/c_131706845.htm


Palestinians pressured not to seek international probe into Arafat's death
English.news.cn 2012-07-10 18:54:05

[scienceplease 2]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/28/france-yasser-arafat-death -murder

[scienceplease 2]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/24/yasser-arafat-body-exhumed -tests

[fish5133]

Well I suppose just bombing his car from the air might have been a bit too political sensitive at the time. Israel certainly have form in assassination so can understand an attempt to try and make it look natural death.

[scienceplease 2]

The news has popped up again... no further forward though...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/yasser-arafat-poisoned-po lonium-tests-scientists
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/arafat-polonium-peace-tal ks-israel
http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/06/yasser-arafat -report-swiss-institut-radiophysique-full-text
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/yasser-arafat-polonium-wh at-report-shows

I don't know why it has taken a full year since the samples were taken to get to the result...

[TonyGosling]

Tests 'show Yasser Arafat was poisoned with polonium', widow says
Swiss experts hand over forensic results to Palestinians after exhuming remains of PLO leader who died in 2004, but findings not publicly revealed
Yasser Arafat 'poisoned with Polonium'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthor ity/10430928/Tests-show-Yasser-Arafat-was-poisoned-with-polonium-widow -says.html
Robert Tait By Robert Tait, Jerusalem7:04PM GMT 06 Nov 2013
Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader, may well have been poisoned with radioactive polonium, Swiss scientists have concluded in findings that may solve a 10-year riddle but torpedo the latest Middle East peace process.
His remains contained unusually high levels of polonium-210, a substance experts say can usually only be obtained from governments, months of forensic tests have shown.
The conclusions are likely to reawaken allegations that the late guerrilla leader - long a totemic symbol of the Palestinian national cause, was murdered, possibly by Israel which considered him a terrorist.
They also threaten to deal a fatal blow to ongoing peace talks that are already tottering under a barrage of mutual recriminations. A 108-page report from the University Centre of Legal Medicine in Lausanne said 18 times the normal levels of polonium were found in samples taken from his ribs and pelvis and in soil stained with his decaying organs.
Scientists said they could assert with 83 per cent confidence that Arafat was poisoned with polonium and said their findings "moderately supports" the argument that it caused his death.
The report - following exhaustive tests by Swiss, French and Russian physicians - promises to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of the former Palestinian Authority president who died aged 75 in November 2004 after falling ill in his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
It came after the Lancet reported last month that the Swiss scientists had found polonium on Arafat's clothing after examining 38 samples of his belongings, including underwear, a shapka hat, toothbrush, a hospital cap and sportswear,
Arafat's widow, Suha, now living in Paris, said the latest report proved that her husband's death was "a real crime, a political assassination".
"This has confirmed all our doubts," she added. "It is scientifically proved that he didn't die a natural death and we have scientific proof that this man was killed." She stopped short of identifying possible culprits, saying her husband had many enemies.
David Barclay, a British forensic scientist who studied the report, called it a "smoking gun" and said he too was convinced Arafat had been murdered.
“Yasser Arafat died of polonium poisoning,” he told the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network, whose investigation last year into whether the former Palestine Liberation Organisation [PLO] leader had been murdered triggered the forensic examinations. “We found the smoking gun that caused his death. What we don’t know is who’s holding the gun at the time.
“The main problem is the timeframe,” he said. “If this was a murder that happened yesterday you’d have witnesses and cell phone records, emails, bank transfers. In a nine-year-old case that type of information will be hard to obtain.”
Scientists exhumed Arafat's remains from his tomb in Ramallah last November after Al Jazeera's report triggered a fresh clamour to re-open investigations into his death.
The report also prompted detectives in France to launch a murder investigation.
Scientists handed the result of their findings to Palestinian officials in Geneva on Tuesday.
However, there were signs that the report could trigger disagreements amongst Palestinians. Ghassan Shaka'a, mayor of the West Bank city of Nablus and a PLO executive committee member, said not all the results of tests had been revealed. The various Palestinian committees had decided to postpone their publication for several months "for political reasons", he told The Telegraph
"We want to know who poisoned him and how they did it and all the details of this crime," he said. "We want to know who implemented it and planned it. We want to try all those who were involved in it. Arafat was no ordinary president. He was a big symbol for the Palestinian people, who will not remain silent."
Palestinians have long pointed the finger at Israel for the sudden demise of their iconic leader - pointing out that he had been subject of previous Israeli assassination attempts and death threats.

[TonyGosling]

French judges end inquiry into Arafat's 2004 death
Judges in France examining the cause of the Palestinian icon's death have reached a conclusion and have sent their findings to a prosecutor
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/french-judges-end-enquiry-arafats-20 04-death-1200727681

PLO chairman Yasser Arafat died 11 November 2004 of unknown causes
Wednesday 6 May 2015 00:07 BST

NANTERRE, France - French judges re-examining the evidence surrounding the 2004 death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have concluded their investigations, the prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre said Tuesday.

"The judges have closed their dossier and it was sent to the prosecutor on April 30," he said.

The prosecutor now has three months to prepare his submissions on whether to dismiss the case or put it forward to court.

In the meantime, interested parties can produce written depositions. However if, as is currently the case, there is no defendant's name attached to the proceedings, the case is likely to be dismissed.

Arafat died aged 75 on 11 November 2004, at the Percy de Clamart hospital, close to Paris. He had been admitted there at the end of October that year after developing stomach pains while at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he had lived since December 2001, surrounded by the Israeli army.

Arafat's widow Suha lodged a complaint at a court in Nanterre in 2012, claiming that her husband was assassinated, sparking the inquiry.

The same year, Arafat's tomb in Ramallah was opened for a few hours allowing three teams of French, Swiss and Russian investigators to collect around 60 samples.

Many Palestinians believe that the Israelis poisoned Arafat with the complicity of some people in his entourage.

A centre in the Swiss city of Lausanne had tested biological samples taken from Arafat's personal belongings given to his widow after his death in Paris, and found "abnormal levels of polonium", but stopped short of saying that he had been poisoned by the extremely radioactive toxin.

However French experts "maintain that the polonium-210 and lead-210 found in Arafat's grave and in the samples are of an environmental nature", Nanterre prosecutor Catherine Denis said last month.

Polonium-210 became famous in 2006 when a fugitive Russian intelligence officer turned opponent of President Vladimir Putin, Alexander Litvinenko, was killed in London by a strong dose of the hard-to-get radioactive isotope. Two Russian agents were the chief suspects for British police, but Moscow refused their extradition.

The lawyer of Arafat's widow Suha Arafat could not be immediately contacted for comment.

[TonyGosling]

Yasser Arafat ingested polonium, and not by accident, scientists say
Swiss scientists have confirmed that Yasser Arafat ingested radioactive polonium and say it could not have been an accident
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthor ity/10433543/Yasser-Arafat-ingested-polonium-and-not-by-accident-scien tists-say.html
Arafat's widow, Suha, now living in Paris, said the conclusions proved her husband had been assassinated in what she called "the crime of the century". Arafat died, aged 75, in November 2004 a month after falling gravely ill following a meal.
While not explicitly identifying culprits, Mrs Arafat told AP on Thursday that "only countries with nuclear reactors" had access to polonium - a remark that appeared to implicate Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear weapons and which had declared Arafat a sworn enemy. Palestinian officials - as well as wider public opinion - have long suspected Israel was responsible.

[TonyGosling]

Did George W. Bush Bless Israel’s Killing of Yasser Arafat With Polonium?
Post Categories: Culture
Sputnik | Tuesday, June 21, 2016, 21:30 Beijing
http://www.4thmedia.org/2016/06/did-george-w-bush-bless-israels-killin g-of-yasser-arafat-with-polonium/

French jurists delayed their decision on whether to reopen an investigation into the cause of Yasser Arafat’s death, but mounting evidence of polonium poisoning and shocking admissions suggest an explosive assassination cover-up has been underway for over a decade.

On Friday, a French court ruled to postpone a decision on whether to resume an investigation into the death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat until June 24 or July 8. This comes amid growing suspicions that Israeli agents assassinated him using polonium po

In 2012, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader’s widow, Suha Arafat, filed a complaint after traces of polonium, a highly toxic radioactive substance, were found on Yasser Arafat’s personal effects.

Arafat drifted into a coma and passed away on November 11, 2004 at the age of 75, after suffering nausea, massive stomach problems, and other gastrointestinal related issues. His illness initially began on October 12, 2004, despite have previously been given a clean bill of health.

The French hospital treating the Palestinian leader determined that the cause of Yasser Arafat’s death was a stroke triggered by blood poisoning. Inexplicably, French officials have never inquired about the type of blood poisoning to which Arafat eventually succumbed.

Yasser Arafat’s demise is consistent with polonium poisoning, which causes gradual deterioration of the body, ending in death over the course of several weeks or months. Victims experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and hair loss.

Recognized as the leader of the Palestinian movement, some viewed Arafat as the father of Palestine.

On Thursday, Loud & Clear’s Brian Becker sat down with Dr. Ghada Talhami of Lake Forest College to examine what the evidence suggests about Arafat’s death.

“Well, the first thing that we know is that Souha Arafat succeeded in convincing the Palestine Authority in Ramallah to exhume his body so that they could take samples in order to have it investigated individually,” Talhami says.

“Additionally, according to Al Jazeera, she sent his toothbrush and some of his clothing to a Swiss agency to be tested for polonium and that was last year. The Swiss lab confirmed that there were, in fact, traces of polonium on his effects,” the professor explains. “Polonium is a radioactive material that has no smell, no visible color, and it is very secretive.”

“In order to pursue this one step further she would need to get a verdict, which can be done either by opening a new court case, that he was actually assassinated,” she adds.

Do Palestinians and Israelis believe that Yasser Arafat was assassinated?

“This is what I can tell you: According to a very well-known article by Uri Avnery, a member of the Knesset and a famous peace activist in Israel, said that he himself got some kind of confirmation by an individual named Uri Dan who was the loyal mouthpiece of Ariel Sharon for nearly 50 years,” she says.

According to professor Talhami, President George W. Bush authorized the assassination of the revered Palestinian leader when asked directly by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

“Uri Dan said that there was a conversation that Sharon had with him and President Bush, and Sharon apparently asked for permission to kill Arafat and Bush gave it to him on the condition that it must be done very quietly under the table,” Talhami says.

“When Uri Dan asked Sharon if it had been carried out, the former Prime Minister said that ‘it is better not to talk about that,’ so Dan took that to be a confirmation.”

Mideast-Israel-Palest_Webf-7

Is there reason to believe that Israel would have killed Yasser Arafat?

“We have this and several instances that are very well known in Israel where the press would actually ask Sharon why didn’t you kill him when he was right under your nose, especially after Israel held Arafat’s headquarters under siege during the Second Intifada,” the professor says. “Sharon would say that I couldn’t do it because he had Israelis protecting him and living with him in his headquarters.”

“One of those Israelis was Uri Avnery who, along with two other Israelis, decided to live with Arafat as a human shield in order to protect him,” Talhami explains. “We also know during the Israeli siege of Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War that as soon as the Israelis invaded Beirut on the eve of the massacres of Sabra and Shatilla, that Israeli soldiers would actually scour Beirut looking for Arafat.”

“You put all of this together and the fact that there was this strange illness that struck Arafat which nobody knew what it was. Was it the flu? No. The French hospital decided that he had died of a stroke caused by blood poisoning, but providing no further details,” she adds.

“Either the French hospital that was treating him does not want to release the full story or French authorities are masking the truth. In Israel, the story is really linked to Sharon.”

[TonyGosling]

In memorium: Uri Avnery

20th August 2018 QuickPress, Home, Israel
In memorium - Uri Avnery
Nureddin Sabir, Editor, Redress Information & Analysis, writes:

Redress Information & Analysis joins the Israeli Peace Bloc Gush Shalom in mourning the death of Uri Avnery, founder-member of the bloc, founding-member of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, former publisher and editor-in-chief of Haolam Hazeh news magazine, and thrice member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, who has died at the age of 94.

Avnery was a valued contributor to our website since its creation 18 years ago. We did not agree with all his views, particularly in regard to the idea of a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the feasibility of a two-state solution and the inception of the Zionist project.

However, his knowledge and understanding of Israeli politics was next to none. He was decades ahead of his time. He was a visionary, a giant among the fascists, bigots, racists, opportunists and nincompoops who dominate Israeli politics. His death leaves a huge gap. We will miss him.

Below is Gush Shalom’s announcement of Avnery’s death, published today, 20 August.

Gush Shalom: Avnery’s opponents will ultimately have to follow in his footsteps

Gush Shalom grieves and mourns the passing of its founder, Uri Avnery. Until the last moment he continued on the way he had travelled all his life. On Saturday, two weeks ago, he collapsed in his home when he was about to leave for Rabin Square and attend a demonstration against the Nation-State Law, a few hours after he wrote a sharp article against that law.

Avnery devoted himself entirely to the struggle to achieve peace between the state of Israel and the Palestinian people in their independent state, as well as between Israel and the Arab and Muslim worlds. He did not get to the end of the road, did not live to see peace come about. We – the members of Gush Shalom as well as very many other people who were directly and indirectly influenced by him – will continue his mission and honour his memory.

On the day of the passing of Uri Avnery, the most right wing government in the history of Israel is engaged in negotiations with Hamas. Ironically, the same kind of demagogic accusations which were hurled at Uri Avnery throughout his life are now made against Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

In the history of the State of Israel, Uri Avnery will be inscribed as a far-seeing visionary who pointed to a way which others failed to see. It is the fate and future of the State of Israel to reach peace with its neighbours and to integrate into the geographical and political region in which it is located. Avnery’s greatest opponents will ultimately have to follow in his footsteps – because the State of Israel has no other real choice.

Contact: Adam Keller, Gush Shalom spokesperson, on +972-(0)54-2340749

[TonyGosling]

Decision to assassinate Arafat approved by Saudis: Former senior advisor
Mon Dec 10, 2018 07:27PM [Updated: Mon Dec 10, 2018 07:33PM ]
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/12/10/582572/Decision-to-assassina te-Arafat-was-approved-by-Saudi-Arabia-Former-senior-advisor

A former senior adviser to Yasser Arafat, the late leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), has said that Arafat's death was not natural and he was actually assassinated, with Saudi Arabia approving the decision to assassinate him.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Palestine’s Arabic-language Shehab news agency, Bassam Abu Sharif said former US president, George W. Bush, had contacted Saudi officials after a meeting with former Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, during which Arafat's liquidation was discussed, and Saudi authorities consented.

Abu Sharif went on to say that the Riyadh regime approved of Arafat’s assassination, because it viewed him as an obstacle to the Arab Peace Initiative, which envisioned a so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Sharon met with Bush at the White House and told him that he could no longer keep his promise of not physically attacking Yasser Arafat, because he was a leading terror figure and collaborating with Hamas, and that Hamas operations were carried out with the approval and blessing of Arafat,” the senior member of the PLO pointed out.

Abu Sharif highlighted that Bush contacted Saudi officials the following day and informed them of the matter, and the Al Saud regime agreed to the decision to assassinate Arafat.

The late Palestinian leader's adviser noted that his new book, titled Salty Fish, contains many secrets about the assassination of Arafat; Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the former leader of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2004; as well as senior Hamas figure, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was found dead in his hotel room in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, back in 2010.

Arafat, who led an armed struggle against Israel in the late 1960s, died of unknown causes at a hospital near the French capital, Paris, on November 11, 2004. He was 75.


PressTV-Israel troops disrupt Arafat memorial in West Bank
Israeli forces have attacked a group of Palestinian students, who planned to hold a ceremony to mark the death anniversary of Yasser Arafat,
In 2012, Arafat’s widow, Suha, filed a legal complaint in France, claiming that her husband had been assassinated while staying at the Mercy military hospital near Paris in 2004. He had been moved to the hospital the previous month for diarrhea and vomiting.

According to French doctors, he died of a massive stroke, although the origin of his illness was unknown.

Arafat’s tomb in Ramallah was opened the same year, so that three teams of French, Swiss, and Russian investigators could collect samples for investigation.

A subsequent French investigation found no proof of poisoning. However, separate probes from Swiss and Russian experts found that Arafat had been poisoned to death with polonium.


PressTV-Israel killed Arafat: Investigation
An investigation has proved Israel assassinated the former leader of Palestine Liberation Organization, Yasser Arafat.
Many Palestinians believe that Israel poisoned Arafat. However, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his longtime rival, Mohammed Dahlan, have both accused each other of complicity in Arafat’s death in the past.

Certain Arab countries are reportedly pressuring the PLO chairman to allow Dahlan, who has been in exile in the United Arab Emirates, to return to the West Bank amid talk of who will succeed Abbas.

In May, the online news portal, Middle East Eye, said that Israel as well as the UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia were planning to overthrow Abbas and replace him with Dahlan.

It quoted unidentified Palestinian and Jordanian sources as saying that the UAE had discussed the initiative with Israel.