Palestinians Hail French Judges' Trip for Arafat Probe
The Palestinians on Wednesday welcomed news that a delegation of French judges investigating suspicions that Yasser Arafat was poisoned was to travel to the West Bank.
"We welcome the visit of the French committee that was formed to look into the late president Arafat's death," said a statement from Tawfiq Tirawi, head of the Palestinian committee investigating the circumstances of the veteran leader's death in November 2004.
His remarks came just hours after Arafat's widow Suha said three investigative magistrates were making plans to travel to Ramallah following claims Arafat may have succumbed to poisoning by the radioactive substance polonium.
No date has been given for the trip which would involve forensic officers exhuming the body and taking samples for laboratory testing, she said in a statement released by her lawyer.
Last month, French prosecutors opened a murder enquiry into Arafat's death after the al-Jazeera news channel broadcast an investigation in which Swiss experts said they found high levels of polonium on his personal effects.
Polonium, a highly toxic substance rarely found outside military and scientific circles, was used to kill former Russian spy turned Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko, who died in 2006 in London shortly after drinking tea laced with the poison.
Source: Agence France Presse
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