EXPERTS FROM RUSSIA, SWITZERLAND AND FRANCE TO PROBE ARAFAT'S DEATH

Palestine, 27 Dzul hijja/12 November (MINA/Press TV) – Experts from three European states including Russia, Switzerland and France have planned to investigate the death of former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas says.

“There’s full cooperation these days between us and the French investigators and Swiss experts, and also Russians from the Russian government,” Abbas said on Sunday during the memorial ceremony of Arafat.

“They will open the grave hoping that there will be new realities about the cause of his death. We will announce all the updates to our people and general opinion. This is a very important case, bigger than media hyping,” he added.

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Arafat died on November 11, 2004, following several weeks of medical treatment.

At the time, French officials refused to reveal the exact cause of his death on grounds of privacy laws, fueling rumors that the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, had poisoned him with thallium, a radioactive element.

In July 2012, Swiss scientists said they have evidence that he may have been poisoned with polonium, another radioactive chemical.

The claim was made based on tests, which focused on biological samples taken from Arafat’s belongings, given to his wife by the hospital in Paris where he died. (MAM/PKH/J-006/HSH)