Late Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat's blood contained the deadly HIV virus, Arafat's personal physician told Jordanian media over the weekend. Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi stressed, however, that Arafat did not die of AIDS - which is caused by the virus.
Jordanian news site Amman quoted al-Kurdi - a former Jordanian health ministry official - as saying that the virus had been injected into Arafat's bloodstream close to his death, and that the real cause of the chairman's death was poison.
Hours earlier, al-Kurdi was interviewed on television news station Al-Jazeera. However, the network cut short the live interview with al-Kurdi as soon as he mentioned that the former chairman had contracted HIV.
To Amman, al-Kurdi said that Arafat's death was suspicious in several other respects. "I would usually be summoned to attend to Arafat immediately, even when all he had was a simple cold," said al-Kurdi, who served as Arafat's personal physician for 18 years. "But when his medical situation was really deteriorating, they chose not to call me at all."
According to al-Kurdi, Arafat's wife, Suha, refused to allow the doctor to visit Arafat in the private Paris hospital where he was being treated. Al-Kurdi added that he was denied access to Arafat's body after his death. In the Amman interview, he demanded the French government set up a commission of inquiry.
However, al-Kurdi did not explain why he did not come forth sooner and reveal the information. On September 9, 2005, al-Kurdi told Haaretz that "any doctor would tell you that [Arafat's symptoms] are the symptoms of a poisoning." ...read more
http://www.haaretz.com/news/arafat-s-doctor-there-was-hiv-in-his-blood-but-poison-killed-him-1.227303
China’s Xinhua news agency reports that Palestinian officials told it that the PA has come under serious pressure from the U.S. and France not to seek an international tribunal to investigate the possible murder of Yasser Arafat:
The Palestinians’ efforts to launch an international probe into the 2004 death of ex-leader Yasser Arafat face serious obstacles, a Palestinian official said Tuesday. The obstacles stem from the opposition by some countries including the United States and France, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The United States has put pressure on the Palestinian leadership not to seek such an investigation because it can lead to some negative consequences on the Middle East peace process…
Of course it will. If Israel is discovered to have killed Arafat, it will make it look like an utter ass and further alienate Palestinians (and the world) from Israel. So what the U.S. is saying essentially is that Arafat’s murder is water under the bridge and it’s far more important to negotiate a peace deal than dwell on the past. This. of course ignores the critical importance of justice and accountability in resolving this conflict....read more.http://uruknet.info/?p=m89563&hd=&size=1&l=e
New allegations have surfaced claiming that former Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat was poisoned, prompting the PA to agree on Wednesday to exhume the body of their iconic leader.
A Swiss institute that examined clothing provided by Arafat's widow, Suha, revealed that “surprisingly” high levels of polonium-210 were found, as first reported by Al Jazeera, leading to new allegations that Arafat was poisoned with the radioactive element and murdered in 2004.
The former PA leader’s medical reports are inconsistent with the latest findings, which were revealed after a nine-month investigation on Arafat’s 2004 death.
Israel is already seen to be the prime suspect behind the death of the 75-year-old Arafat, who prominently led the Palestinians in their bid for statehood for many years.
The Hamas movement in Gaza, a strong opponent of Arafat and his Fatah movement for most of his life also called for an investigation into his death, accusing Israel of murdering him, according to The Globe and Mail.
“The beneficiary of this time is the Zionist enemy,” Hamas said in a statement, while calling for a search that would uncover “those who collaborated or facilitated the task of the occupier.”
Arafat was confined by Israel to his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah for nearly the final three years of his life following a Palestinian uprising. He became very ill in October 2004 and doctors from Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan quickly came to his aid, despite assurances from Arafat’s camp that he was merely suffering from the flu.
He was later flown to a military hospital in France, where he slipped into a coma and died in November 2004. French doctors said they could not pinpoint his cause of death as rumours swirled that he had died of cancer or AIDS.
French officials, citing privacy laws, refused to give details of the nature of his illness at the time while Israeli officials denied involvement in his death....read more
http://www.shalomlife.com/news/17508/palestinians-to-exhume-yasser-arafats-body-after-poisoning-claims/
