Palestinians to perform autopsy on Yasser Arafat's body

At the request of his widow, Yasser Arafat's remains will be exhumed for tests.

By Dalia Nammari and Geir Moulson,?Associated Press / July 4, 2012

In this file photo, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat talks to the media during a press conference at his headquarters, in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Yasser Arafat's body may be exhumed to allow for more testing of the causes of his death after a Swiss lab said it found elevated levels of a radioactive isotope in belongings the Palestinian leader is said to have used in his final days.

Muhammed Muheisen/AP/File

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The Palestinian president cleared the way Wednesday for a possible autopsy on?Yasser?Arafat's?remains, following a request from his widow after a Swiss lab said it found elevated levels of a lethal radioactive isotope on the longtime Palestinian leader's belongings.

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The developments have reignited a storm of speculation over what killed?Arafat, who died on Nov. 11, 2004 at the age of 75 at a military hospital outside Paris after decades of fighting with Israel.

Arafat's?widow, Suha, who rejected an autopsy at the time of his death, said she wanted one done now in the wake of the lab's findings, first reported by the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera. In an interview with the station, she did not explain why she waited nearly eight years to have the belongings, including a toothbrush and a fur hat, tested.

French doctors said at the time that?Arafat?died of a massive brain hemorrhage ? weeks after he fell violently ill at his West Bank compound.

Arafat?had suffered intestinal inflammation, jaundice and a blood condition known as disseminated intravascular coagulation, or DIC, according to French medical records.

But the records were inconclusive about what brought about DIC, which has numerous causes including infections, colitis and liver disease. Outside experts who reviewed the records on behalf of The Associated Press were also unable to pinpoint the underlying cause.

The uncertainty prompted many in the Arab world to allege he was killed by Israel, which viewed him as an obstacle to a peace treaty. Israeli officials have vociferously denied any foul play.

Francois Bochud, who heads the Institute of Radiation Physics in Lausanne, Switzerland, told the AP on Wednesday that his lab examined belongings that?Arafat's?widow said were used by?Arafat?in his final days, as well as others that he hadn't worn.

Suha?Arafat?said the items were kept in a secure room at her attorney's office in Paris after?Arafat's?death and stayed there until Al-Jazeera approached the lab on her behalf at the beginning of this year, he added.

Experts found what Bochud characterized as "very small" quantities of polonium, an isotope that is naturally present in the environment.

But there were higher quantities of polonium in, for example, a urine stain on underwear worn by?Arafat?and a blood stain on hospital clothing than on belongings he hadn't used, such as new and unworn socks stored in the same bag.

Polonium is best known for causing the death of Alexander Litvinenko, a one-time KGB agent turned critic of the Russian government, in London in 2006. Litvinenko ingested tea laced with the substance.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ucOeg1hBcPc/Palestinians-to-perform-autopsy-on-Yasser-Arafat-s-body

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