In late 2004, Yasser Arafat had a flu, according to his spokesman. Seventeen days later, he was dead.
Conspiracy theories have abounded since then. While doctors insist a severe hemorrhage led to his deadly stroke, others are convinced he was assassinated — by Israel's Mossad, by Palestinian extremists, or even by his own party.
The television network Al-Jazeera gave a Swiss research lab what it says are some of Ararat's old belongings. The result? Traces of a lethal radioactive agent, which could be used as a poison. Arafat's own family members, including his widow, who gave the articles to Al-Jazeera, have repeatedly called for a new autopsy, and it looks like they're getting their wish. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, has given his consent to exhume Arafat's remains.
Dr. Ziad Asali says that regardless of the outcome, there will be clear winners — and losers — of this debacle. He's the president and founder of The American Task Force on Palestine. He's seen the harsh spotlight swing from Palestine's enemies to Arafat's trusted friends. And as a physician, he also knows how polonium could be used as a deadly poison.
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Comments [3]
The HIV theory was a lie. They already have proven that he did not have HIV.
also, do you really think French hospitals do 'full body blood transfusions' on people that have not been feeling well for a week?
This "story" is obviously just another attempt to condemn Israel. And I can't believe you used just one source. Here's what happened:
http://www.israeldefense.com/?CategoryID=483&ArticleID=1455
Arafat "suffered from complications stemming from leukemia. It’s possible that the publications that said he was suffering from AIDS were correct and it's possible they weren't – this writer has no conclusive information on that issue. What was known among those at the top of Israel’s defense echelon was that Arafat’s condition had begun to improve at the French hospital. Then, according to Israeli sources, the French doctors performed a dramatic measure – a full body blood transfusion. The process put Arafat in a state of shock and into a coma, one from which he never recovered. He died on November 11, 2004, and was transferred for burial to Ramallah."
This is such a preposterous story.
Arafat died in a French hospital. Under the care of French doctors, under circumstances of advanced western medicine. The Arafat medical records, if they are legitimate and if they would be released, would be the one blindingly obvious place to start. But the Arafat estate has never allowed it, nor have they allowed any of the French doctors to speak.
At the time of Arafat's death, columnist David Frum wrote about the widely suspected cause of Arafat's death; that Arafat was gay, he had engaged in reckless homosexual sex and had become HIV-positive and died of full-blown AIDS.
http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTQ2MWQ3M2I4ZTU1OTM3MjE3Zjc0NzkzMDQ3MmZhMzk=
Naturally, evidence of Arafat's homosexuality would be explosive news in the homophobic Arab world. The mainstream international media seemed loathe to pick up the story at the time.
And one would think that the Arafat family would prefer to let the cause of death fade into unrecorded history.
But if media outlets propose to smear Israel with unfounded and unlikely (the half-life of Polonium is measured in days, not years) theories, I think that news reporters should start at the obvious place, with Arafat's medical records and the sworn testimony of his treating medical providers.
To have done this story, with no mention whatsoever of the possible connection with HIV as a cause of death, is almost beyond explanation as mere carelessness. It is a kind of journalistic malpractice.
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