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Expert: Arafat poisoning reports 'completely fabricated'

Radiation expert Dr. Ehud Ne'eman says there would be no traces of Polonium 210 on Arafat's body if substance was injected before 2004

An Israeli expert on radiation believes reports that former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was poisoned to death are "completely fabricated." Dr. Ehud Ne'eman told Ynet that there would be no traces of Polonium 210 if the poison was injected before 2004.

 

On Wednesday, Professor David Barclay, a British forensic scientist retained by Al Jazeera to interpret the results of Swiss forensic tests, said the findings from Arafat's body confirmed the earlier results from traces of bodily fluids on his underwear, toothbrush and clothing.

 

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"In my opinion, it is absolutely certain that the cause of his illness was polonium poisoning," Barclay told Reuters. "The levels present in him are sufficient to have caused death.

 

Arafat's widow Suha said after receiving the test results, "We are revealing a real crime, a political assassination."

 

The Swiss scientists' report, posted in full on Al Jazeera's website concluded: "Taking into account the analytical limitations aforementioned, mostly time lapse since death and the nature and quality of the specimens, the results moderately support the proposition that the death was the consequence of poisoning with polonium-210."

 

Al Jazeera said the levels of polonium found in Arafat's ribs, pelvis and in soil that absorbed his remains were at least 18 times higher than normal.

 

"This is more soap opera than science, it is the latest episode in the soap in which Suha opposes Arafat's successors," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.

 

Meanwhile, a Palestinian senior official called for the establishment of a commission of inquiry into Aragat's death.

 

Reuters contributed to this report

 

 

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פרסום ראשון: 11.07.13, 14:11
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