Official PA daily op-ed: Sharon poisoned Arafat
Excerpt of an op-ed by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily
“At this opportunity, I remind [you] that the national leader, symbol Yasser Arafat – whose office in Ramallah was besieged by the Israeli occupation army for over two years (i.e., during Operation Defensive Shield) and afterwards [former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon assassinated him with poison (sic., claims that Arafat was poisoned have been disproven by medical examinations) – underwent a political assassination prior to that.”
Operation Defensive Shield - a large Israeli military operation in April 2002 in response to the many suicide bombings during PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005). Israel put Arafat under siege and invaded six of the largest West Bank cities in an attempt to destroy the terror infrastructure.
“At this opportunity, I remind [you] that the national leader, symbol Yasser Arafat – whose office in Ramallah was besieged by the Israeli occupation army for over two years (i.e., during Operation Defensive Shield) and afterwards [former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon assassinated him with poison (sic., claims that Arafat was poisoned have been disproven by medical examinations) – underwent a political assassination prior to that.”
Operation Defensive Shield - a large Israeli military operation in April 2002 in response to the many suicide bombings during PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005). Israel put Arafat under siege and invaded six of the largest West Bank cities in an attempt to destroy the terror infrastructure.