During a press conference in
Ramalah, seat of the Palestinian National
Authority (PNA) and where Arafat was buried, doctor Abdulah
al-Basheer
said that although the use of polonium-210 was difficult to
determine, it
cannot be discarded.
According to Al-Basheer, previous medical reports did not
reveal the cause
of Arafat’s death, which could not be confirmed without
exhuming his
remains, PL news agency reported.
The report issued by the French hospital where the
Palestinian leader
passed away November 11, 2004 was incomplete, said Al-Basheer
as he
recalled that the healthcare center in France refused to
give a research
commission appropriate information for the process.
The hospital report read that the experts were not able to
identify any
known reason or disease that could explain the cause of
death and that the
development of Arafat’s condition could not be understood in
the framework
of any pathology, Al-Basheer said.
The expert’s statement was followed by the decision of PNA
president
Mahmoud Abbas to authorize the exhumation of Arafat’s mortal
remains to
determine the cause of his death, as requested by his widow
Suha Arafat.
