Yasser Arafat, who was the President of the Palestinian National Authority and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, died unexpectedly on 11 November 2004, at the age of 75, after a short period of illness. The cause of his death has since been debated, and several different theories concerning it have been suggested. However, official investigations by French and Russian teams did not find evidence of foul play.
History of illness Arafat's illness began on 12 October 2004 with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Soon afterward, his general health deteriorated. Following visits by other doctors, including teams from Tunisia, Jordan, and Egypt, Arafat was taken to France on a French government jet, and was admitted to the Hôpital d'instruction des armées Percy in Clamart, a suburb of Paris, on 29 October 2004. On admission, he was experiencing diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and generalised abdominal pain, along with mild liver and kidney failure linked to disseminated intravascular coagulation. His condition deteriorated with acute renal failure, and, on 3 November, he lapsed into a gradually deepening coma.
A controversy erupted between officials of the PNA and Suha Arafat, Arafat's wife, when officials from the PNA traveled to France to see Arafat. French law forbids physicians from discussing the condition of their patients with anybody, with the exception, in the case of a grave prognosis, of close relatives. Accordingly, all communications concerning Arafat's health had to be authorized by his wife. Palestinian officials expressed regret that the news about Yasser Arafat was "filtered" by her.
The next day, chief surgeon Christian Estripeau of Percy reported that Arafat's condition had worsened, and that he had fallen into a deeper coma. Sheikh Taissir Tamimi, the head of the Islamic court of the Palestinian territories, who held a vigil at Arafat's bedside, visited Arafat, and declared that it was out of the question to disconnect him from life support, since, according to him, such an action is prohibited in Islam.
Death
Arafat was pronounced dead on 11 November 2004 at 03:30 UTC at the age of 75 of what French doctors called a massive haemorrhagic cerebrovascular accident. However, the underlying infection was declared unknown. The official statement announcing his death failed to determine a cause, saying only that he had a "mystery blood disorder".
The Canard Enchaîné newspaper reported alleged leaks of information by unnamed medical sources at Percy hospital that had access to Arafat and his medical file. According to the newspaper, the doctors at Percy hospital suspected, from Arafat's arrival, grave lesions of the liver responsible for an alteration of the composition of the blood; Arafat was therefore placed in a hematology service. Leukemia was "soundly ruled out". According to the same source, the reason why this diagnosis of cirrhosis could not be made available was that, in the mind of the general public, cirrhosis is generally associated with the consequences of alcohol abuse. Even though the diagnosis was not of alcoholic cirrhosis and Arafat was not known for consuming any alcohol, there was a likelihood of rumors. The source explained that Arafat's living conditions did little to improve the situation. Thus, according to the source, the probable causes of the disease were multiple; Arafat's coma was a consequence of the worsened cirrhosis. The French newspaper Le Monde quoted doctors as saying that he had "an unusual blood disease and a liver problem".
After Arafat's death, the French Ministry of Defence said that Arafat's medical file would be transmitted to only his next of kin. It was determined that Arafat's nephew and PNA envoy to the UN, Nasser al-Qudwa, was a close enough relative, thus working around Suha Arafat's silence on her husband's illness. Nasser al-Qudwa was given a copy of Arafat's 558-page medical file by the French Ministry of Defence.
Theories about the cause of death
There are numerous theories about the cause of Arafat's death. Initially Arafat's records were withheld by senior Palestinian officials. In 2004, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said after talks with Arafat's French doctors that they had "ruled out poison completely". However, Shaath stated in "The Price of Kings", a documentary on Arafat's leadership, "I have no doubt that he was assassinated. The French said that whatever toxic material was in his body did not test positive in their toxicology table, saying in plain words 'this was a poison we did not have in our laboratories.'"The Price of Kings
Al-Kurdi, Arafat's personal physician for 18 years, said "I would usually be summoned to attend to Arafat immediately, even when all he had was a simple cold ... But when his medical situation was really deteriorating, they chose not to call me at all", and Arafat's wife, Suha, refused to allow him to visit Arafat in the private Paris hospital where he was being treated. Later he was denied access to Arafat's body after his death.
Al-Kurdi also lamented that Arafat's widow Suha had refused an autopsy, which he said would have answered many questions regarding cause of death.
Medical records released in 2005 showed that Arafat's doctors could not agree on the cause of death, stating that he died from a stroke that stemmed from an unknown condition. Analysis based on those records suggested him dying from poisoning, AIDS, or an infection. In 2012, newly released medical records revealed that French doctors initially diagnosed Arafat with gastroenteritis.
Poisoning In 2004, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said after talks with Arafat's French doctors that they had "ruled out poison completely". A 2005 article in The New York Times said that based on his records it was highly unlikely that Arafat died from poisoning. Meanwhile, al-Kurdi called for the creation of an independent commission to carry out investigations concerning Arafat's suspicious death, stating, "any doctor would tell you that these are the symptoms of a poisoning".
Former Knesset member, peace activist and personal friend of Arafat Uri Avnery claimed at the time of Arafat's death that he had been poisoned, and repeated the claim in 2012. Another "senior Israeli physician" claimed in an article in Haaretz that it was "a classic case of food poisoning", probably caused by a meal eaten four hours before he fell ill that may have contained a toxin such as ricin, rather than a standard bacterial poisoning. However, in the same week as the report in Haaretz, The New York Times published a separate report, also based on access to Arafat's medical records, which claimed that it was highly unlikely that Arafat had food poisoning.
Poisoning with polonium According to Israel Radio, a former Palestinian intelligence officer, attorney Fahmi Shabana, said that Yasser Arafat's political rivals were responsible for his death, and that he was poisoned with polonium. Shabana, who took part in the investigation into Arafat's death in a French hospital in 2004, also said that several months after his death, the same cell murdered the head of military intelligence in Gaza, General Moussa Arafat, a relative of the PLO leader, in order to prevent a blood feud. The lawyer called on Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to reopen the investigation into Arafat's death."Kol Yisrael English news, 17 January 2011, 0430 UTC
Al Jazeera's investigation On 4 July 2012, Al Jazeera reported that a nine-month investigation by Al Jazeera had revealed that none of the causes of Arafat's death suggested in several rumors were true, as Arafat was in good health until he suddenly fell ill on 12 October 2004. Tests carried out by the Institut de Radiophysique (Institute of Radiation Physics) at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland found traces of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element, on Arafat's personal belongings, including his toothbrush, hat, surgical bouffant (headgear), and underwear, which suggested that there was a high level of polonium inside his body when he died. The investigation ruled out HIV or any other infectious disease as a cause of death. The polonium was found in quantities much higher than could occur naturally, and further, that 60%–80% of that polonium (depending on the item being tested) had not come from natural sources, but from a nuclear reactor. The quantities found on his personal items at the time of this investigation were generally consistent with quantities of polonium that would have been given to poison him when he suddenly first came down with major symptoms of illness.
In October 2010, an official press release from the Institut de Radiophysique, where those items were analyzed, had stated that:
In July 2012, a spokesman for the Institut de Radiophysique stressed that the "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", and that "the only way to confirm the findings would be to exhume Arafat's body to test it for polonium-210". François Bochud, who heads the Institute of Radiation Physics in Lausanne, Switzerland, stated that "our results are clearly not a proof of any poisoning". Alastair Hay, professor of environmental toxicology at the University of Leeds in England, stated: "You don't know much about the provenance of the clothing and whether it had been tampered with later on. You'd want to test the body."
In response to Al Jazeera's report, Dr Ely Karmon, at Herzliya's Institute for Counterterrorism, a specialist in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism, said that "the half-life of the substance [i.e., slightly more than 138 days 9 hours] 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. If it had been used for poisoning, minimal levels should be seen now. Yet much higher levels were found. Someone planted the polonium much later." He went on to question why Arafat's widow, Suha Arafat, who provided the researchers with Arafat's belongings was not also poisoned while she was by his side at the hospital touching him and his clothing.Polonium found on Arafat's clothing was planted, The Jerusalem Post, 5 July 2012
Israel has denied any connection to the rumours. Deputy Spokesman of Israeli Foreign Ministry Paul Hirschson was skeptical of the rumours, joking, "All of a sudden, Suha's checking her wash basket and discovered clothes that weren't washed for eight years. Suddenly, out of nowhere a couple of garments turn up; we test them, and presto! There's Polonium." Avi Dichter, who was in charge of the Shin Bet when Arafat died, told Army radio that "Yasser Arafat had many enemies, domestically, abroad. But let them investigate. ... The Palestinians know well how to investigate what goes on in their house. Let them investigate and find out."