Palestine, Russia working to exhume Arafat
12 Nov 2012 7:22 AM IST
The Palestinians are coordinating with Russia, as well as Swiss and French experts, on the exhumation of late president Yasser Arafat, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Sunday.
Arafat died in a French military hospital near Paris on November 11, 2004 and French experts were unable to say what had killed him, with many Palestinians convinced he was poisoned by Israel. ‘We are currently in coordination with the French investigators, the Swiss experts, and also the Russian government to open the tomb,’ Abbas said in a speech marking the eighth anniversary of Arafat's death.
His comments were the first time Palestinian officials have said that Russia is involved in the new investigation into Arafat's death.
French prosecutors opened a murder inquiry in August after Al-Jazeera television broadcast an investigation in which Swiss experts said they had found high levels of radioactive polonium on Arafat's personal effects.
A French team is due to arrive in Ramallah on 26 November to begin work on exhuming the body.
Arafat died in a French military hospital near Paris on November 11, 2004 and French experts were unable to say what had killed him, with many Palestinians convinced he was poisoned by Israel. ‘We are currently in coordination with the French investigators, the Swiss experts, and also the Russian government to open the tomb,’ Abbas said in a speech marking the eighth anniversary of Arafat's death.
His comments were the first time Palestinian officials have said that Russia is involved in the new investigation into Arafat's death.
French prosecutors opened a murder inquiry in August after Al-Jazeera television broadcast an investigation in which Swiss experts said they had found high levels of radioactive polonium on Arafat's personal effects.
A French team is due to arrive in Ramallah on 26 November to begin work on exhuming the body.
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