Nine years to the day since the death of Palestinian leader
Yassir Arafat in a Paris hospital, it seems we now know the cause – though not the
perpetrators.
The Palestinian authorities themselves, desperate to maintain
some kind of dialogue, must take responsibility for the appalling delay in
opening an investigation.
Last night’s Al Jazeera documentary
pieced together the complex and often contradictory history of what happened
after Arafat’s death and why it has taken so long to get this far.
Given his huge stature amongst Palestinians world-wide and
the killing of most of long-standing comrades like Abu
Jihad by the Israeli state, his death was always going to be wracked with
controversy.
The exact circumstances of how and why Arafat how fell ill
in his Rafah compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah in the autumn of 2004 were
never clarified at the time and no autopsy was carried out.
But now we have the results of a nine-month investigation by
10 Swiss scientists from Lausanne. Their 108-page
report, based on samples taken after Arafat’s body was exhumed in November
2012, states that abnormal levels of
radioactive polonium-210 were found in his pelvis, ribs, and in the dirt on his
body. The report says that 18 times the normal level of polonium was found,
raising the likelihood of poisoning to 83%, much to the scientists’ surprise.
British forensic scientist David Barclay believes that the Swiss
results conclusively show that Arafat was poisoned.
He says the levels of polonium were 36 times higher than in a normal person and
were “smack in the middle” of what would constitute a fatal dose.
The announcement follows the Swiss scientists’ discovery
last month, reported by The Lancet medical
journal, that they had found traces of polonium in separate tests on Arafat's
clothing.
Arafat had been held virtual prisoner in the compound, which
was under Israeli siege, for the last three years of his life. His death has
been surrounded with rumours and counter-rumours ever since. But the most
shocking thing about his death are the strenuous efforts made to prevent the true
circumstances from becoming known.
Most parties retrospectively admit it was a mistake not to
have held an autopsy back in 2004. But
it was only the work by Al Jazeera which built up momentum, causing the French
authorities to open up a criminal
investigation in 2012, and eventually obtain the Palestine National Authority’s
permission to exhume the body.
It’s clear that leading
PNA members, including Arafat’s nephew Nasser al-Qudwa, PNA leader Mahmoud
Abbas and security chief Tawfik Tirawi, sought to delay and undermine efforts
by Arafat’s widow Suha as well as the Swiss scientists.
The PNA insisted on sending tissue samples to a Russian
forensic team, which it turns out, was completely at the mercy of Russia’s foreign
ministry. Al Jazeera journalist Clayton Swisher
and his cameraman were pursued and hounded by PNA security men in Rafah.
Several agents rifled through the news team’s hotel room, and tailed them by
car.
Al-Qudwa claimed that Palestinian leaders decided not to
allow an autopsy back in 2004 as it “would have been seen as a huge betrayal by
the Palestinian people”, who “were not ready for it”. They feared disrupting negotiations with
Israel – the so-called “peace process”, and
that anger over Arafat’s possible assassination could spark an “Arab spring” in
Palestine.
The nine years since Arafat’s death have made matters for
the Palestinians. In the West Bank, Israeli settlements have expanded to the
point where a viable independent state is a non-starter.
Gaza remains under blockade. Jamal al Khodari, chairman of
the Popular Committee against the Siege says the situation in the Gaza Strip is
an “humanitarian catastrophe”. There is hardly any clean water and an
electricity crisis. All but one border crossing have been closed by the Israel
authorities.
Suha Arafat is right to say that peace negotiations with the
Israelis should be halted and that the perpetrators of the crime against her
husband identified. What is also increasingly clear that one
state for all the citizens of Palestine and Israel remains the real
solution.
Corinna Lotz
A World to Win secretary
