In Ramallah, Yasser Arafat's mausoleum is currently being renovated. But now, nearly eight years after the death of the first Palestinian president, his eternal rest could be disturbed. His widow, Suha Arafat, has called for the remains of her husband to be exhumed.

Her decision was based on the results of an investigation by Arab television station Al-Jazeera, in collaboration with scientists from Switzerland. Al-Jazeera commissioned an analysis into Arafat's clothes by the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, and the institute's experts have determined that Arafat could have been poisoned with polonium-210. The final proof is still missing: that can only be obtained through an examination of Arafat's body.

In 2006, the former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned by the radioactive substance in a London sushi restaurant, according to the British police force. Only afterwards did suspicions rise about Litvinenko's death; now, it seems Arafat's death may also be linked to the deadly polonium.

No DNA available to test

Al-Jazeera's investigation lasted nine months. The Swiss experts were given a bag filled with Arafat's personal belongings, among them his winter hat, his hospital cap, his toothbrush and his underwear.

In their findings, the researchers explained that hair samples and bodily fluids containing conspicuously elevated of polonium-210 were indeed taken from Arafat. However, none of Arafat's actual blood or urine samples could be used for comparative studies, as they were all destroyed in Paris some years ago.

The first allegations that Israel was behind his mysterious and deadly disease were raised shortly after Arafat's death in 2004. Speculation was fuelled by the fact that there was never a clear, official cause of death. The 75-year-old Arafat suddenly took ill, and his condition deteriorated so dramatically in such a short time that he had to be flown to France via Jordan, where he died in a military hospital in the south of Paris on November 11.

Speculation abounds

The speculation surrounding Arafat's death was there from the start, when Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery, a friend of Arafat's, suggested that the Palestinian leader may have been poisoned. This view was largely shared by the Palestinian population. In an interview with DW, Avnery expressed the possibility that Israel might have had something to do with Arafat's death.

In the years before his death, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization had fallen into disgrace in the eyes of the Israeli government. He had been placed under house arrest by Israel multiple times since 2001, and in 2002 the Israeli army destroyed a large part of Arafat's compound in Ramallah.

For several years, Arafat lived in two small, poorly ventilated rooms, which he was not allowed to leave. Israeli leaders accused him of instigating violent uprisings against Israel, and he personally was said to bear the responsibility for numerous Palestinian suicide bombings.

A year before Arafat's death, then Israeli Trade Minister Ehud Olmert said killing the PLO leader was a "legitimate option." The Israeli cabinet even took the formal decision to "remove" Arafat, as it was then called.

But it wasn't just Israel that came under suspicion. Suha Arafat accused the Palestinian leadership at the time of planning a "conspiracy" against her husband to access his inheritance. But these suspicions did not appear in the recent Al-Jazeera documentary.

Instead, she explained that polonium is a substance that only exists in a small number of very advanced countries. This statement was confirmed by the Swiss researchers: the highly toxic polonium can only be produced in nuclear reactors, meaning it must come from a country with nuclear power.

"I don't need to remind anyone who has [nuclear power]," said Arafat.

The Palestinian Authority has agreed to honor the wishes of Arafat's widow and arrange for the exhumation of his corpse. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has called for an international inquiry into the matter.

The investigation continues

For two years, PLO members have been gathering material related to Arafat's death. However, according to Salah Abdel Shafi, the ambassador for the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Berlin, the technical and medical testing possibilities for this material are very limited. In any case, he said in an interview with DW, the Arafat case file will never be closed.

Researcher Francois Bochud, of the Lausanne institute, said he was ready to undertake the investigation of Arafat's remains - but only if other institutions are involved. He says only this approach would be scientifically reliable.

Bochud warned, however, that any existing polonium would have substantially degraded. But since Arafat's body has been in a mausoleum since his death, it is probably still in quite good condition.

Uri Avnery, however, remains pessimistic. "If Arafat was really poisoned, then we'll never find out who was behind it."

Author: Diana Hodali / cmk
Editor: Richard Connor