Fatah official: Israel is responsible for Arafat’s “assassination”
Headline: "Nasser Al-Qidwa: Israel is politically and criminally responsible for the murder of Arafat"
"Fatah Movement Central Committee member, Director of the Yasser Arafat Institution, [and Fatah Commissioner of Information, Culture, and Ideology] Nasser Al-Qidwa said that 13 years after the assassination of leader [and] symbol [PLO and PA Chairman] Yasser Arafat, Israel’s full political and criminal responsibility for the assassination of Martyr (Shahid) Yasser Arafat shouldn’t be diminished – especially in the shadow of the clear and repeated Israeli statements that demanded the removal of Martyr Yasser Arafat from the Palestinian political arena."
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Following PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's death in November 2004, the PA created the libel that Israel murdered Arafat, and it has been spreading it since then. Swiss, Russian, and French teams have studied these claims. In 2012, samples were taken from Arafat’s remains to be tested for poisoning, and Swiss and Russian teams afterwards published the results of their tests: The Swiss team concluded that the tests were "coherent with a hypothesis of poisoning" - but a member of the team also stated that "our study did not permit us to demonstrate categorically the hypothesis of poisoning by polonium." The Russian report concluded that "there was insufficient evidence to support the theory that Yasser Arafat died in 2004 by polonium poisoning." [Reuters, Nov. 8, 2013] In March 2015, three French judges ruled that "it has not been demonstrated that Mr. Yasser Arafat was murdered by polonium-210 poisoning." The French prosecutor stated that there was "not sufficient evidence of an intervention by a third party who could have attempted to take his life." [France 24, Sept. 2, 2015] The French prosecutor also explained that the polonium and lead found in Arafat’s grave were “of an environmental nature.” [Jerusalem Post, March 17, 2015].
Despite these results, the PA continues to blame Israel for Arafat’s death without any proof or backing for this claim.
"Fatah Movement Central Committee member, Director of the Yasser Arafat Institution, [and Fatah Commissioner of Information, Culture, and Ideology] Nasser Al-Qidwa said that 13 years after the assassination of leader [and] symbol [PLO and PA Chairman] Yasser Arafat, Israel’s full political and criminal responsibility for the assassination of Martyr (Shahid) Yasser Arafat shouldn’t be diminished – especially in the shadow of the clear and repeated Israeli statements that demanded the removal of Martyr Yasser Arafat from the Palestinian political arena."
Click to view bulletin
Following PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's death in November 2004, the PA created the libel that Israel murdered Arafat, and it has been spreading it since then. Swiss, Russian, and French teams have studied these claims. In 2012, samples were taken from Arafat’s remains to be tested for poisoning, and Swiss and Russian teams afterwards published the results of their tests: The Swiss team concluded that the tests were "coherent with a hypothesis of poisoning" - but a member of the team also stated that "our study did not permit us to demonstrate categorically the hypothesis of poisoning by polonium." The Russian report concluded that "there was insufficient evidence to support the theory that Yasser Arafat died in 2004 by polonium poisoning." [Reuters, Nov. 8, 2013] In March 2015, three French judges ruled that "it has not been demonstrated that Mr. Yasser Arafat was murdered by polonium-210 poisoning." The French prosecutor stated that there was "not sufficient evidence of an intervention by a third party who could have attempted to take his life." [France 24, Sept. 2, 2015] The French prosecutor also explained that the polonium and lead found in Arafat’s grave were “of an environmental nature.” [Jerusalem Post, March 17, 2015].
Despite these results, the PA continues to blame Israel for Arafat’s death without any proof or backing for this claim.
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