BBC News – Yasser Arafat ‘may have been poisoned with polonium’

Who Dunnit?

The BBC’s Yolande Knell: “People here in Ramallah have shown no surprise at these new findings”

Swiss scientists have confirmed that tests show the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had high levels of radioactive polonium in his body.

However, they could not say whether polonium poisoning had caused his death in 2004.

Their report concluded that Arafat’s remains showed levels of polonium 18 times higher than normal.

Arafat’s widow, Suha, has reaffirmed to the BBC her belief that their report proves he was assassinated.

More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24851883

One thought on “BBC News – Yasser Arafat ‘may have been poisoned with polonium’

  1. Aye AA..was looking at that story…They dffo got him big time…Amazing how they can turn those closest to you, against you, murderously so.

    Now we must consider who had motive, means and opportunity. Let’s consider means first, because it severely narrows the number of suspects. The only countries in the world doing serious research into polonium are Russia, the U.S., and Israel. That means that the source of the poison was likely one of these places. I think we have to rule out the U.S. because it maintains strict control on access to such a highly dangerous and lethal substance.

    We’ve seen that Russia murdered Litvinenko with polonium in 2006, so it’s entirely possible it provided the material to poison Arafat. To do so, it would’ve needed to supply the polonium to someone in Arafat’s inner circle. In other words, either the Russians or the PA would’ve wanted him dead and would’ve had to collaborate in order to kill him. This seems highly unlikely. The Russians had no motive to kill him or allow anyone else to do so. In fact, Russia has always been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

    That leaves Israel. Later in this post, I’ll republish an earlier post I wrote about Israel’s checkered past concerning polonium research. It will attest that Israel’s top-secret chemical weapons facility at Nes Ziona has been experimenting with polonium since the late 1950s. It produces the radioactive element at its Dimona reactor. Clearly, Israel of all the other suspects had the means to kill Arafat.

    Now let’s explore motive: in the period leading up to Arafat’s murder Israel had laid siege to him in his Ramallah fortress, the Muqata. Over time, the Israelis had destroyed more and more of the complex so that Arafat and his followers were holed up in a small space surrounded by ruins. All contact with the outside world including electricity, telephone and water had been severed. Though it might not have been clear at the time, the Israelis probably were trying to force him into exile. They may’ve believed he’d relent and leave the Muqata for exile. If so, they didn’t bargain for Arafat’s unrelenting steadfastness to the Palestinian cause and his leadership of it.

    http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m102434

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