Doctors to reopen Yasser Arafat death investigation

[IndianaGreen]

Palestinian leader's demise still shrouded in suspicicion and conspiracy theories

Doctors to reopen Yasser Arafat death investigation

Arab doctors to review information about 'strange death' of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat

Rachel Shabi in Tel Aviv
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 April 2009 14.17 BST

Arab doctors are to investigate the death of the former Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, re-opening a four-year-old case which is still the subject of suspicion, conspiracy theories and political accusations.

Doctors from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian territories have been given the task of reviewing information about the former president's demise.

Arafat's death in November 2004 in a military hospital near Paris triggered immediate rumours that he had been poisoned. French doctors said the 75-year-old died from a "massive brain haemorrhage" but could not explain what had prompted it. At the time, Arafat's widow refused to allow an autopsy.

"The investigations carried out so far didn't reach the point at which they could say conclusively what happened," said Mansour Tahboub at the Yasser Arafat foundation, set up last year to preserve the former president's legacy, and which commissioned the Amman investigation. "All we know is that there is something strange about his death."

The panel had been expected to meet as early as today in the Jordanian capital, Amman, but the exact timing of the meeting remains unclear, with the head of the committee, Jordanian heart surgeon Abdullah al-Bashir saying it had been postponed.

Tahboub said the decision to re-examine the evidence was not political. "We want to give Palestinians new facts," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/02/yasser-arafat-death

[MADem]

1. I always thought he was offed, myself. nt

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[aquart]

2. Was he finally autopsied? Or is the evidence still incomplete.

And I have no idea why they're looking at Israel. Israel didn't profit. Look at his wife.

[LeftishBrit]

3. He had lots of enemies.

Israel. Hamas. No doubt rivals within Fatah.

I actually lean to PROBABLY natural causes: he was at an age when people do die; and usually assassinations in the Middle East are more obvious: bombings or shootings. Poison or similarly hard-to-detect methods seem more of a modus operandi in connection with the former Soviet Union, for example. But murder is certainly possible; and there are plenty of people and groups with possible motivations.

[aquart]

8. I'm pretty much of that view.

Although so very many would have found it convenient to be rid of him, they really just had to wait and feed him something fattening.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

11. Are you confusing him with Sharon? Wider than we was tall?

Is he still alive?

[aquart]

12. Nuh uh.

Arafat didn't look healthy on his best day.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Yes, Arafat had enemies: Mossad, Shin Bet, CIA

The man was alive and kicking when he left for France.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

10. Maybe the influx of Russian olim had some influence?

LOL!

[excess_3]

6. is there a Muslim-religious issue with doing an autopsy? n/t

[MADem]

7. To some extent, yes, though it's not hard-n-fast.

You're generally buried within a day of dying. You don't "defile" the body. It's similar to orthodox Jewish law.