Was Yasser Arafat poisoned?

Channel Zero

There was always controversy surrounding the cause of death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2004. The exact cause of his illness is unknown.

News is just breaking that traces of polonium have been found on his clothing.

A Swiss medical laboratory has found traces of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive metal, in the former Palestinian leader’s personal effects. Is that what killed the Nobel laureate? Arafat’s clothing and other items, including his toothbrush, contained polonium-210 levels 60 to 80 percent higher than would occur naturally.
Arafat was chairman of the PLO and headed the Palestinian Authority and was viewed by many Arabs as the symbol of Palestinian interests. He received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli leaders in recognition of their peace efforts. He fell ill in October 2004 and died a month later. The cause of his death was never determined, though doctors suspected a wide variety of diseases.
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/yasser_arafat_poisoned_20120703/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C5DKzTxoKY

studiorat

From Reuters July 3rd, Katharina Bart.

Darcy Christen, spokesman for the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, told Reuters on Tuesday it had found "surprisingly" high levels of polonium-210 in Arafat's belongings.

But he stressed that clinical symptoms described in Arafat's medical reports were not consistent with polonium-210 and that conclusions could not be drawn as to whether the Palestinian leader was poisoned or not.

What do Al Jazeera say about Mr. Arafat's symptoms before he died?

My favorite story is from the Romanian intelligence officer who claimed to have video recordings of Arafat engaging in homosexual sex with his body guards.

Channel Zero

One scenario would be that the Mossad organised and carried this through in order to eliminate a potential peace-maker, in order to splinter and further the radicalise the Palestinian movement. To basically scupper peace plans or deals that would potentially cede territories and damage or de-legitimise their security and defence industry.

Channel Zero

studiorat wrote: »

What do Al Jazeera say about Mr. Arafat's symptoms before he died?

Linky

My favorite story is from the Romanian intelligence officer who claimed to have video recordings of Arafat engaging in homosexual sex with his body guards.

Didn't hear that one. I think we can rule it out as the cause of death though.

JustinDee

Channel Zero wrote: »

One scenario would be that the Mossad organised and carried this through in order to eliminate a potential peace-maker, in order to splinter and further the radicalise the Palestinian movement. To basically scupper peace plans or deals that would potentially cede territories and damage or de-legitimise their security and defence industry.

It wasn't Israel who had more to lose if he lived. The most direct enemy of the PLO following their involvement in peace talks were in fact their opposition Palestinian factions who in turn were backed by their own proxies poking and prodding them along.

Jonny7

JustinDee wrote: »

It wasn't Israel who had more to lose if he lived. The most direct enemy of the PLO following their involvement in peace talks were in fact their opposition Palestinian factions who in turn were backed by their own proxies poking and prodding them along.

That will not be a popular theory to say the least

fkface

I have a jar full of Polonium sitting in my bathroom cabinet along with my Peppermint Rennies and Lemsip.

So yeah, could have been anyone really.

Let's not speculate.

studiorat

Jonny7 wrote: »

That will not be a popular theory to say the least

It would make a lot of sense for it to be an inside job. There was a power struggle going on at the time anyway. It makes way for a new leader and it is something to use to sway public opinion further away from Israel.

Fahmi Shabana a former PA official maintained that was the case. Nor did Former Minister Rafi Eitan rule out the possibility that Mahmoud Abbas and Muhammad Dahlan were responsible for the assassination of Arafa either.

In 2009 at a conference the Fatah ruled unanimously that it was the Israelis and started an enquiry headed up by Arafat's nephew Nasser al-Qudwa. Shabana matains this is simply a cover-up.
Farouk Kaddoumi the current Fatah leader assumed power after Arafat's death and there hasn't been an election for leadership of the party since. A few weeks before the conference, Kaddoumi accused Abbas of conspiring to kill Yasser Arafat and claimed that he has evidence for his involvement in a plot to poison Arafat.

I don't believe polonium was the cause of death. He had a brain haemorrhage which isn't a symptom of ARS. And there were toxicology tests done by a French radiological institute which turned up nothing out of the ordinary. That said neither side would have any trouble getting hold of it if they wanted to.

studiorat

So was the Polonium planted after his death?


From the Swiss report :
(Mr. Louvet is Arafat)

Finally, and in addition to our alpha-spectrometric analysis, we re-analyzed the raw data of the gamma spectrometry performed on urine samples by the French government before Mr Louvet's death. We did not detect any abnormal gamma activities. In particular, we checked the area around the energy 803 keV that is (weakly) emitted by 210-Po. We did not find any evidence of this nuclide in the spectra.

The high levels of the polonium reportedly found seem to indicate that the toxin was planted on them long after his death.


http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/137924/-39-polonium-found-on-arafat-39-s-clothing-was-planted-39-.html
Dr. Ely Karmon, of the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center's Institute for Counter-Terrorism, is a specialist in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism.

Responding to an Al Jazeera report published Wednesday, which said that specialists at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, discovered abnormally high levels of polonium on Arafat's belongings, Karmon said that the half life of the substance would make it impossible for polonium to have been discovered at such high levels if it had been used to kill Arafat eight years ago.

According to the Al-Jazeera report, polonium has a half-life of 138 days, "meaning that half of the substance decays roughly every four-and-a-half months."

And yet, eight years after Arafat's death, the Swiss scientists reported finding polonium levels of 54mBq and 180mBq on his belonging, considered to be high levels.

"If it had been used to for poisoning, minimal levels should be seen now. Yet much higher levels were found. Someone planted the polonium much later," Karmon said.

"Because of the half life of the substance, the conclusion is that the polonium is much more fresh," he added.

....After Arafat's death, "why did neither Suha nor the PA agree to release the French hospital's medical file?" he added.

Meanwhile anyone looking to buy some Polonium Look no further : http://unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_5

$79 a pop.

Complete with Gift Box

Channel Zero

studiorat wrote: »

It would make a lot of sense for it to be an inside job. There was a power struggle going on at the time anyway. It makes way for a new leader and it is something to use to sway public opinion further away from Israel.

Fahmi Shabana a former PA official maintained that was the case. Nor did Former Minister Rafi Eitan rule out the possibility that Mahmoud Abbas and Muhammad Dahlan were responsible for the assassination of Arafa either.

In 2009 at a conference the Fatah ruled unanimously that it was the Israelis and started an enquiry headed up by Arafat's nephew Nasser al-Qudwa. Shabana matains this is simply a cover-up.
Farouk Kaddoumi the current Fatah leader assumed power after Arafat's death and there hasn't been an election for leadership of the party since. A few weeks before the conference, Kaddoumi accused Abbas of conspiring to kill Yasser Arafat and claimed that he has evidence for his involvement in a plot to poison Arafat.

I don't believe polonium was the cause of death. He had a brain haemorrhage which isn't a symptom of ARS. And there were toxicology tests done by a French radiological institute which turned up nothing out of the ordinary. That said neither side would have any trouble getting hold of it if they wanted to.

Thanks for the input.

Came across an Independent article from a few weeks ago (before this broke). A compendium of state sponsored assassinations.

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/19/intelligent-kill-the-dirty-art-of-secret-assassination/

studiorat

Good article, I like the Independent.

Here's another one for your compendium : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/14/dalai-lama-poison-plot_n_1514014.html

Channel Zero

studiorat wrote: »

Good article, I like the Independent.

Here's another one for your compendium : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/14/dalai-lama-poison-plot_n_1514014.html

Thanks. Back to the OP then, Uri Avnery seems convinced he was poisoned.
http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/index.html

studiorat

Channel Zero wrote: »

Thanks. Back to the OP then, Uri Avnery seems convinced he was poisoned.
http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/index.html

From the article :

An examination of his belongings commissioned by Aljazeera TV and conducted by a highly respected Swiss scientific institute has confirmed that Arafat was poisoned with Polonium, a deadly radioactive substance that avoids detection unless one specifically looks for it.

A foregone conclusion then! Uri must be reading a different report to the rest of so.

Speaking of foregone conclusions, by what means did Fatah in 2009 deduce that Israel was responsible?

The thing is Arafat dead by natural causes isn't as useful to the PA as Arafat murdered so they can make a martyr out of him.