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Dublin: 5 °C Thursday 23 May, 2013

Was Yasser Arafat poisoned by polonium?

Al Jazeera reports that tests have found abnormal levels of polonium in the late Palestinian leader’s clothing.

Image: AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen/PA

THE WIDOW OF THE late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reportedly wants his body to be exhumed amid suggestions he may have been poisoned by polonium.

Arafat, 75, was treated at a military hospital in Paris after falling ill at his West Bank compound in October 2004 and died just weeks later. The exact cause of Arafat’s death in 2004 has never been established.

Al Jazeera reports that a nine-month investigation has found that tests show that Arafat’s personal effects, such as his toothbrush and clothing, contained abnormal levels of the highly poisonous radioactive element polonium.

The tests carried out by the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland have prompted Arafat’s widow to request the exhumation of his remains from Ramallah to test them for polonium.

The radioactive element was famously used to poison the former KGB and FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. The dissident was living in the UK under asylum after accusing the Russian secret service of staging terrorist acts in Russia. Polonium is very hard to access and highly difficult to detect in the body.

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Comments (14 Comments)

  • From what I read Polonium is an extraordinarily dangerous material (One gram of 210Po could thus in theory poison 20 million people of whom 10 million would die) and must be handled in a glove box, which is further enclosed in another box, maintained at a slightly lower pressure than the glove box to prevent the radioactive materials from leaking out. Gloves made of natural rubber do not provide sufficient protection against the radiation from polonium; surgical gloves are necessary. Neoprene gloves shield radiation from polonium better than natural rubber.

    In other words it is highly likely that Arafat surrounded by guards might have noticed someone in a radioactivity protection suit dropping something into his coffee. Perhaps he/she was hiding under a burqa? Unless this was a suicide mission the logistics are puzzling.

    Are we to see Arafat’s former associates dropping like flies from strange cancers?

    Reply
    • The guy who poisoned Alexander Litvinenko wore a business suit. Nevertheless, given the half life of 210Po is 138 days and Arafat died 8 years ago (>20 half lives) there should be no 210Po left (why it’s such a good poison). Maybe they identified elevated 206Pb levels. Also, 210Po occurs naturally, it’s a decay product of Radon gas, and given he’s been buried for nearly a decade, it’s likely is remains are now contaminated by natural 210Po from Radon. I’m skeptical.

      Reply
  • @ Too Trueleft. You seem to have a problem with a jew having a view on this.

    Since you seem to be one of the few people in the world that knows what ACTUALLY happened, could you please enlighten us all.

    Reply
  • Who !?

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  • Probably. There were reports flying around why Arafat took ill that he was suffering from symptoms consistent with a poisoning, which they could not detect. Some reports also suggested polonium poisoning. Now it loks like theres evidence to back this up.

    So, after years of everybody suggesting Arafat had been poisoned being labelled an anti-semite, will we now be blanketbombed with articles reminding people of switzerlands close ties to Germany during WWII, suggesting the swiss institute has an agenda at play?

    Reply
  • Of course not, Polonium 210 is abundant in Palestine at the levels detected in his blood… Probably picked it up in the garden

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    • Nothing was detected in his BLOOD. That is why Suha Arafat is asking for the body to be disinterred!

      The Polonium-210 was detected in his BELONGINGS. Given the toxicity of this material, if the report is correct and his belongings were not tampered with after the fact, there are many Palestinians close to Arafat who should be developing early stages of cancer including presumably the grieving widow.

      Reply
    • The examining medical team have Arafat’s hospital cap which has on it a blood stain.

      Reply
  • You picked out a few comments from the comments section of an article, now who would`ve thought you might get some extreme views in a comments section.

    Reply

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