militants vow to avenge arafat, page-21

No evidence Arafat was poisoned: official
November 14, 2004 - 11:33AM


A top Palestinian official said today there was no evidence that Israel poisoned Yasser Arafat, but called for an investigation into the cause of death of the Palestinian leader.

Responding to widespread rumours in the Arab world that Israel killed Arafat, Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, said it was a "possibility" that Arafat had been poisoned.

But he made clear there is nothing to back up this claim.

"Are we making any accusations? No we don't.

We don't have any material proof and furthermore we don't think that we are in a position to reach these facts," he said.

Al-Kidwa's comments on the poisoning rumours were the first by a Palestinian official since Arafat's death.

The 75-year-old Palestinian leader who had been suffering from poor health for years died on Thursday in Paris, where he was taken October 29 for treatment after tests showed he had a low count of blood platelets.

The intense secrecy surrounding Arafat's final days has aroused frustration in many corners of the Arab world.

On Friday, Arafat's Jordanian physician called for an autopsy, saying that poisoning was a possible cause for the low platelet count.

Neither Palestinian officials nor Arafat's French medical team have announced a cause of death.

Israeli officials have angrily denied accusations of wrongdoing, noting that they allowed foreign medical teams to examine Arafat and permitted him to fly to France for treatment.

While Arafat was being treated in France, his foreign minister, Nabil Shaath, also said poisoning had been ruled out.

Al-Kidwa, who is a nephew of Arafat and was one of the few people permitted to visit him in the French hospital, said the uncertainty over the Palestinian leader's death will need to be resolved.

"I think it's the right of the Palestinian people, at some point in the future, to make sure what is the exact reality about what happened," he said.

Whatever the cause, he said Israel bears some responsibility for Arafat's death, noting that Arafat had been confined in poor conditions to his West Bank compound for the last three years of his life.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Middle-East-Crisis/No-evidence-Arafat-was-poisoned-official/2004/11/14/1100384407028.html?oneclick=true