Arafat: The mysterious death of a leader

Days after Arafat's death, a French medical report said Arafat had gastroenteritis and severe clotting of the blood, but did not elaborate on the cause of death. A Palestinian investigative committee was formed, which, according to senior Palestinian sources, interviewed all those who were present in the Mukataa, Arafat's besieged compound in Ramallah.

The onset of Arafat's illness

According to those who were with Arafat under siege, his health worsened sharply two hours after eating dinner on 11 October 2004, and deteriorated further day after day. He became emaciated and developed a rash on his face. His doctors, including his personal doctor Ashraf Kurdi, were puzzled and could not diagnose the exact cause of his symptoms.

Two weeks later, two doctors arrived from Tunisia. They discovered that he had a low blood platelet count, which led to internal bleeding. He was subsequently airlifted to the hospital in France.

Arafat's widow, Suha, and daughter, Zahwa, called on the French authorities to investigate his death. In July 2012, after an Al Jazeera investigation found traces of radioactive polonium in some of his personal effects, Suha lodged a claim of murder against persons unknown.

The French authorities launched an investigation and Arafat's body was exhumed. Around 60 samples were taken from his remains, and were sent for analysis to teams from Switzerland, France, and Russia.

The French team's report angered Arafat's family by discounting the possibility of poison, concluding a death of natural causes. According to the report, radon, a naturally occurring gas, explained the traces of polonium in Arafat's grave.

The report released by the Russian experts, headed by the chief of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency of Russia, Vladimir Uiba, agreed with the French team's findings.

The Swiss report

Unlike the French and Russian reports, however, the Swiss forensic team insisted on the credibility of the hypothesis that Arafat was poisoned. They refuted the French team's claim that radon found in Arafat's grave could explain the levels of polonium detected.

François Bochud, who heads the Institute of Radiation Physics in Lausanne, told Al Jazeera: "For us, radon could be ruled out because actually we did measure radon in the tomb before opening it, and the values we found were about the same as we would find in any tomb. Actually, it was a bit lower than what we could expect in normal soil. For us, radon is really an explanation that cannot be used."

Polonium is present in nature in low levels, resulting from the decay of radon in the soil and air. In sealed environments, such as graves, there could be slightly higher levels of polonium present.

The Swiss report said that they found the radioactive element polonium 210 on Yasser Arafat's keffiyeh, underwear, and toothbrush - reinforcing the idea that he was killed using this toxin. The Swiss experts detected 18 times the normal levels of polonium 210, leading them to suggest that polonium poisoning was 83 percent probable.

Abnormal levels of polonium were also found in Arafat's hip and ribs, and the soil beneath his body.

Arafat boasted that he had survived more than 40 assassination attempts.

Dentist under suspicion

Tirawi's committee has yet to disclose any results of its investigation, besides the allegations against Israel.

Last year, Tirawi threatened to "name names" at a specially convened press conference, but resorted to the familiar accusations, saying that the accomplices had yet to be identified.

A senior Fatah figure has said that the results of the investigation have not even been discussed by Fatah's Central Committee or the Revolutionary Council, except on two brief occasions. The high-level source said that the Israeli state remains the main suspect, but stressed that there had to be proof before going public, especially considering the legal consequences and stalled peace process.

The FCC member, who asked not to be named, said that there were strong suspicions surrounding Arafat's former dentist, who died two months after Arafat - also in mysterious circumstances. At the time, it was announced that he had died at home of unknown causes. The dentist's family left Palestine shortly thereafter.

The Israeli account

In 2012, the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot asked whether Israeli security services had indeed assassinated Yasser Arafat, and how long would have to pass before the truth emerged. What is certain, the newspaper wrote, is that Israel and its security services had made great efforts to assassinate Arafat in the past.

In previous interviews Arafat boasted that he had survived more than 40 assassination attempts.

Some of those attempts were especially creative and innovative, according to the paper, including Israel's attempt to employ Syrian gangsters, and posting booby-trapped letters. Sometimes the Israeli agents ventured into the realm of the bizarre, trying to kill Arafat apparently using a hypnotised Palestinian agent.

The Palestinian street

Palestinians have called on President Mahmoud Abbas to reveal those involved in poisoning the late leader, and to bring action against Israel as the main suspect in his assassination.

"How can they withhold the results of the [investigations into the] assassination of the martyr Arafat?" asked Rawda Khaled, a 40-year-old housewife. "He was like a father to everyone. There is nothing to justify this delay."

Street vendor Mustafa Ibrahim agreed: "Isn't ten years of investigation enough? This is not a new invention; it is an investigation whose results should have been disclosed from the beginning. We all know it."

Ibrahim then called on President Abbas to use his powers to reveal the conspirators, "so that the martyr's spirit can rest in peace".

This article is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.