42 thoughts on “U.S., France Pressure PA Not to Seek International Inquiry into Possible Arafat Murder – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. RE: “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. . .” ~ Xinhua news agency

    MY COMMENT: One senses that government of the U.S. is not very confident that an investigation by an international panel would find that Arafat died as a consequence of HIV/Aids like the hasbarists insist. I wonder why that is. Might it know something that we only suspect?

    SEE: “If Arafat were still alive”, by Uri Avnery, Guardian.co.uk, 1/30/07

    [EXCERPT] . . . Just before he died last month, Uri Dan, Ariel Sharon’s loyal mouthpiece for almost 50 years, published a book in France. It includes a report of a conversation Sharon told him about, with President Bush. Sharon asked for permission to kill Arafat and Bush gave it to him, with the proviso that it must be done undetectably. When Dan asked Sharon whether it had been carried out, Sharon answered: “It’s better not to talk about that.” Dan took this as confirmation.
    The secret services of many countries have poisons that are all but undetectable. Ten years ago, Mossad tried to kill Khaled Mashal, the Hamas leader, in broad daylight on a thoroughfare in Amman. He was saved only when the Israeli government was compelled to provide the antidote to the poison it had used. Viktor Yushchenko, the president of Ukraine, was poisoned and saved only when the symptoms were identified by experts in time.
    Is there proof Arafat was murdered by Israeli or other agents? No, there is none. This week I again ran into Zahalka, and both of us concluded that the suspicion is growing stronger . . .

    ENTIRE COMMENTARY – http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/jan/31/israel.comment

    ALSO SEE: “Sharon won’t rule out attack on Arafat”, by The Associated Press, 4/23/04

    (excerpt) JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Friday he is no longer bound by a promise to President Bush not to harm Yasser Arafat — the strongest sign yet that Israel could target the jittery Palestinian leader.
    In an interview with Israel TV’s Channel Two, Sharon said he told Bush about his change of position in a meeting in Washington last week.
    Sharon did not elaborate or say how Bush responded. . .

    ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-04-23-israel-sharon-arafat_x.htm

    1. P.S. VIDEO (12:12) – Israel Threatens to Kill Yasser Arafat ; Ex-PM Peres Blames Sharon For Destroying the Peace Process, Democracy Now!, 8/15/12

      Ali Abunimah, founder of electronicintifada.net, reviews the news of the weekend, the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords. [Includes transcript; Click here to read to full transcript – http://www.democracynow.org/2003/9/15/israel_threatens_to_kill_yasser_arafat#transcript ]
      Israel’s deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said yesterday his government would consider assassinating Yasser Arafat in order to remove him from power.
      Meanwhile former Israel Prime Minister Shimon Peres criticized the Sharon government for its treatment of Arafat. Peres said exiling or killing Arafat will only strengthen Palestinian groups including Hamas.
      On the 10th anniversary of the Oslo peace accords, Peres said, “This government has destroyed the peace process.”
      Meanwhile Palestinians are calling on the United Nations to demand that Israel ensures Arafat’s safety. Haaretz is reporting the U.S. will abstain from Security Council vote today on a resolution today forbidding Israel from deporting Arafat.

      LINK TO VIDEO – http://www.democracynow.org/2003/9/15/israel_threatens_to_kill_yasser_arafat

      1. P.P.S. ALSO SEE: ‘Israel sent me to poison Arafat’s food,’ Palestinian prisoner says, by Ma’an news, 7/06/12

        [EXCERPT] BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The pan-Arab satellite channel Al Mayadeen on Friday broadcast a tape of a Palestinian allegedly confessing to poisoning the late President Yasser Arafat’s food on behalf of Israeli intelligence.
        The video was allegedly recorded in Israel’s Negev prison in 2006 and shows a Palestinian prisoner suspected of being planted in the jail as a spy for Israel. He is said to have been interrogated by another detainee.
        The unnamed prisoner tells his “interrogator” that he put poison in Arafat’s food in the kitchen of the Muqata, the presidential compound in Ramallah, with the help of a cook.

        The prisoner says he was recruited by Israel’s intelligence service in 2002. Another collaborator had taken him to Jerusalem for work, and introduced him to a man named Yoram who recruited him as a collaborator.
        He was given a military uniform and trained with Israeli soldiers for two months, he says. Then he was taken to Jerusalem where Israeli officers showed him and several other collaborators a video about the Muqata, including Arafat’s room and the kitchen.
        He says the group of collaborators was ordered to poison Arafat and received payment in June or July 2004. They were given poison and told they would be killed if they did not carry out the poisoning, he says . . .

        SOURCE – http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m89379&hd=&size=1&l=e

        P.P.S. AND SEE: ‘Israel sent me to poison Arafat’s food,’ Palestinian prisoner says
        LINK – http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247859-Israel-sent-me-to-poison-Arafat-s-food-Palestinian-prisoner-says

      2. P.P.S. ALSO SEE: ‘Israel sent me to poison Arafat’s food,’ Palestinian prisoner says, by Ma’an news, 7/06/12

        [EXCERPT] BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The pan-Arab satellite channel Al Mayadeen on Friday broadcast a tape of a Palestinian allegedly confessing to poisoning the late President Yasser Arafat’s food on behalf of Israeli intelligence.
        The video was allegedly recorded in Israel’s Negev prison in 2006 and shows a Palestinian prisoner suspected of being planted in the jail as a spy for Israel. He is said to have been interrogated by another detainee.
        The unnamed prisoner tells his “interrogator” that he put poison in Arafat’s food in the kitchen of the Muqata, the presidential compound in Ramallah, with the help of a cook.

        The prisoner says he was recruited by Israel’s intelligence service in 2002. Another collaborator had taken him to Jerusalem for work, and introduced him to a man named Yoram who recruited him as a collaborator.
        He was given a military uniform and trained with Israeli soldiers for two months, he says. Then he was taken to Jerusalem where Israeli officers showed him and several other collaborators a video about the Muqata, including Arafat’s room and the kitchen.
        He says the group of collaborators was ordered to poison Arafat and received payment in June or July 2004. They were given poison and told they would be killed if they did not carry out the poisoning, he says . . .

        SOURCE – http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m89379&hd=&size=1&l=e

        P.P.S. AND SEE: ‘Israel sent me to poison Arafat’s food,’ Palestinian prisoner says, by Daniel Siryoti and Reuters, Israel Hayom Newsletter, 7/08/12
        Video released by Lebanese media apparently shows Palestinian prisoner in Ketziot prison saying he was recruited by Israeli security forces to infiltrate Yasser Arafat’s compound in 2004 and put poison in his food • Israeli expert denies allegations that Arafat died from polonium poisoning.
        LINK – http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=4976

        1. Ma’an News has been hacked today 🙁 so I can’t get access but on the Ma’an website in Arabic the video from 2006 released by al-Mayadeen of the socalled prisoner confessing to having poisoned Arafat was posted a couple of days ago. The young man who must have been a kid back in 2002 when he claimed to have been recruited by the Israelis is reading his ‘confession’, and it’s clearly a fake. Even Ma’an doesn’t believe it. If we start with all the rumours…. and how come this ‘confession’ haven’t been investigated before ?

          1. Yes, I tried to go to the Ma’an News site as well to see the original article. I interpreted the page with the big exclamation point as meaning that the site was being blocked. But what do I know?!?! *
            Obviously, I have been able to see the video, but I do not see anything in the Ma’an article itself (as posted on uruknet) that indicates “Ma’an doesn’t believe it”.
            As to why this ‘confession’ has not been investigated before, I would suggest that without evidence (like the recent laboratory results of the Al Jazerra investigation finding elevated levels of Polonium) there was little interest in investigating rumors, confessions, speculation, etc. If the confession shown on the video is “clearly a fake”, that can easily be confirmed by subjecting the “confessor” to a professionally administered polygraph examination.
            Of course, that will never happen.
            Why?

            * P.S. SEE: Palestinian Authority blocks news websites critical of Abbas, report says, By Avi Issacharoff and Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz, 4/25/12
            Move comes a month after PA arrests journalist for accusing Palestinian Foreign Ministry of corruption; Communication Minister: censorship is ‘against public interests.’

            [EXCERPT] The Palestinian Authority began blocking access to websites which expressed criticism toward it, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported Wednesday. According to the report, the PA instructed its internet providers to block access to news websites that are critical of President Mahmoud Abbas.
            According to the report, the PA blocked eight news website operating in the West Bank, including Amad, Fatah Voice, Firas Press, In Light Press, Karama Press, Kofia Press, Milad News and Palestine Beituna. The move is a rare one, as the PA had limited internet access only once before in 2008. Most Palestinians have full internet access. It was also reported that Palestinian communications company Paltel, partially owned by the PA, agreed to the move. . .

            LINK – http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/palestinian-authority-blocks-news-websites-critical-of-abbas-report-says-1.426485

  2. François Hollande recently said “if Israel is so much criticized, it’s because it’s a great [grande] democracy”. It’s not a joke, he really said so.
    How could he possibly spin Israel being involved in the killing of Arafat if it turned out so.

    1. It seems the Americans manage to better that French joke (read to the punchline): “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…”

      As if there could theoretically be a remotely-informed nitwit still believing such a process actually takes place.

      1. yankel, as I recall, embalming involves stuffing the cadaver with herbs, and not with shit.

        That said, it is a bit mysterious. SURELY the threat to peace process is not something that could remotely influence PA. It is much simpler that that: Abbas is a quisling on the payroll, and he does some simulacrum of resistance, and Americans do simulacrum of “pressure”. Concerning good name of Israel and its credibility as “good faith negotiator”, this virgin has a long career as a “working girl”. What could be more explosive is the history of Abbas coming to power.

        Let us see what PA will do. If they “succumb to pressure”, I would be guessing that they have skeletons in their closets.

        1. Collaborator as he is, Abbas is no Quisling.

          Maybe a Rumkowski.

          He’s a Palästinenälteste, doing low-level government work for an overwhelmingly superior sworn-enemy, trying to minimise the damage to his people throughout their calamity while personally enjoying the corrupt benefits of absolute power over his ever-shrinking fiefdom.

  3. And just maybe the USA wanted to kill Arafat for murdering the crippled elderly US citizen who was thrown into the sea with his wheelchair from a cruise boat that was hijacked by Arafat’s terrorist gangs?

    The French probably have good reason too.

    In fact the Israelis had ample opportunity but didn’t do it as not in their best interests – look what they got instead!

    1. Achille Lauro was ‘hijacked’ by the PFLP. Since when have they been under the command of Arafat ? You think the US wanted to kill Arafat because of Leon Klinghoffer ? They didn’t seem to bother too much about USS Liberty, Rachel Corrie or Furkan Dogan, did they, or you’re saying that maybe Bibi is next on the list ?
      “Look what they got instead”
      Well according to some analysts, Israel got what many of their leaders wanted: Hamas is an excellent excuse not to make peace.
      And talking about “terrorist gangs”, Israel has been governed by terrorist gangs since ’48 ! Though most forgot to mention it when Yitzhak Shamir joined Lehi and Stern last week !

    2. SEE: “Are Begin and Shamir also considered terrorists?” ~ By Yossi Sarid, Haaretz, 6/24/12
      From the end of 1937 until the middle of 1939, in less than two years, the terrorist activities of the Irgun and Lehi claimed 232 victims with another 370 wounded – men, women and children.

      [EXCERPTS] . . . B. Michael drew attention to the book, “The History of the War of Liberation,” which was written by people who had been involved in the Irgun and the Lehi prestate right-wing underground movements. It is based on documents from the archives of the Israel Defense Forces and of the Irgun, of the Jabotinsky Institute and the Betar Museum. . .
      . . .There is no room here to mention all of the activities for which these organizations took responsibility, but here are a few typical cases:
      • On 4.11.1937 – five dead and eight wounded in shooting at a bus in the Jerusalem suburb of Romema;
      • 16.7.38 – 10 killed and three wounded including four women, a boy and young girl, by a bomb hidden in a basket of vegetables;
      • 26.7.38 – 27 killed and 46 wounded when a bomb exploded in Haifa’s Arab market;
      • 29.5.39 – five killed and 18 wounded when mines were detonated in the Rex Cinema in Jerusalem, and among the seriously wounded were a Jewish man and woman;
      • 20.6.39 – 78 killed by a bomb in the Haifa vegetable market.
      And we have not mentioned the best known incidents – the explosion at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the massacre at Dir Yassin, the executions of Jews who were suspected of cooperating with the foreign occupier (at least 10 cases ), and the assassinations of some of the representatives of His Majesty’s government and of the international community in the region or in the country.
      From the end of 1937 until the middle of 1939, in less than two years, the terrorist activities of the Irgun and Lehi claimed 232 victims with another 370 wounded – men, women and children. All of this was detailed in the semi-official book, that was republished in 1981 with the assistance of the Defense Ministry.
      I had difficulty calculating the exact number of the hundreds of fatalities from the period of terror between 1946 and 1948. Anyone interested in the figures can find them in the book and do the calculations themselves.
      The acts of the fathers served as a lesson for the sons, and even after 1948 and 1967, the acts of Jewish terrorism did not stop. Many of these terrorists walk among us, free, today and those who were caught and sentenced were pardoned. . .

      ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/are-begin-and-shamir-also-considered-terrorists-1.369342

    3. FROM WIKIPEDIA [Lavon Affair]:

      (excerpt) The Lavon Affair refers to a failed Israeli covert operation, code named Operation Susannah, conducted in Egypt in the Summer of 1954. As part of the false flag operation,[1] a group of Egyptian Jews were recruited by Israeli military intelligence for plans to plant bombs inside Egyptian, American and British-owned targets. The attacks were to be blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian Communists, “unspecified malcontents” or “local nationalists” with the aim of creating a climate of sufficient violence and instability to induce the British government to retain its occupying troops in Egypt’s Suez Canal zone.[2] The operation caused no casualties, except for those members of the cell who committed suicide after being captured. . .
      . . . The operation became known as the Lavon Affair after the Israeli defense minister Pinhas Lavon, who was forced to resign because of the incident, or euphemistically as the Unfortunate Affair or The Bad Business (Hebrew: העסק ביש‎, HaEsek Bish or העסק הביש, HaEsek HaBish). After being denied for 51 years, the surviving agents were in 2005 officially honored with a certificate of appreciation by the Israeli President Moshe Katzav.[3] . . .

      SOURCE – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavon_Affair

    4. Yeah, Israel got a nice, quiet obedient poodle named Abbas. They had no motivation for offing Arafat, did they?

      As for the Klinghoffer murder, that’s off topic. Unless you want to indulge in a long list of Israeli murders as well. Two can play this game, which is why I don’t want you or anyone else to play it.

  4. It’s not votes, it’s money and many other hidden factors, best outlined (in part) by that Harvard Dean and Professor of Diplomacy, Stephen Walt. The reality is much, much more cutthroat. The Federal Reserve sits above all three branches of our government because it controls the issuance of money. Money is the root of everything in a global economy with the Federal Reserve Note as the reserve currency (for all international trade). And thanks to the Bush appointed Corporate 9, Citizens United paved the way for precisely the Shel Adelsons.

    How many Jews do you really think there are that go to the poll in a geographically distributed way so as to sway electoral votes? Perhaps in key urban areas and some disparate suburbs, but nothing significant enough to have both halves of Congress doing standing ovations like trained seals, and a substantial majority of our important governmental offices pandering to AIPAC each year. And then in France? In England? In Germany? Must be a census count off there somewhere. Because all of these nations sure toe what are definitively false and fabricated agendas (like against Iran’s non-existent and long-rejected nuke weapons program — Iran is oil rich, it would buy them — hello?) intended to benefit Israel while harming everyone else involved.

    The lies are obvious and easy to poke through, but yet hasbarists will try to paint a different picture. yawn.

  5. So the cover-up and PA hunger games begin, just as I predicted.

    But here is part II: I also said that should there be any obvious pressure applied to the PA not to proceed with the investigation, it’s as good as a confession that the poisoning was done, possibly with Polonium, and that the considered judgement of the poisoners is that traces will indeed be detected with the right equipment. Why the certainty? because the first things the US does is to ask the Israelis: do you believe there might be anything embarrassing come up from the exhumation? if the answer is yes, then exhumation would be a no-no. If the answer was no – we had nothing to do with it – the plot takes a twist, with chances very high that no Polonium will be discovered in the body. In this latter case, an exhumation is a net benefit for Israel as it ends with egg on the faces of those it considers its enemies.

    As far as I am concerned the first shoe has dropped. They likely done it.

    OTOH, sorry Richard, there’ll be no exhumation – the pressure to prevent it will be too intense. Just like the pressure not to go to the UN GA.

  6. 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.

    Well, that’s just par for the course with this administration, isn’t it? Looking Forward, Not Backward ™ regarding past crimes of a close ally is simply consistent with Obama’s attitude toward his own predecessor’s policies. At home, this flat-out denial of accountability has predictably led to bipartisan entrenchment and worsening of the assault on civil rights and checks-and-balances that Bush started. Why should anyone think the outcome will be any different in Israel’s case? What kind of “peace deal” will come from this that anyone, on either side, with a modicum of self-respect will want to touch with a ten-foot pole?

  7. America and France, eh?

    The notable failure to recruit the UK to the cover-up is circumstantial evidence that it was indeed polonium and it was indeed Israel.

  8. Richard,

    Is it possible that the main reasons that the US and France are attempting to quash the investigation are:

    1. that the US either had prior knowledge or participated in an assassination. (there is an accusation from the PA official who is heading its investigation)
    2. that France may be implicated in a cover-up stemming from Arafat’s hospitalization there. (see the full al-Jazeera documentary which broke the story)

    Sometimes nations act in their own interests rather than Israel’s only. Of course, in this case all interests may be aligned.

    1. True, so name for us the last 3 times the US acted in its own interests instead of Israel’s since 1967 (45 years ago) please.

  9. “….because it can lead to some negative consequences on the Middle East peace process…”
    Middle East peace process? Say what?

  10. I remain to be convinced about the Polonium story. Having read the Lausanne report from cover to cover there are so many caveats needed it feels too thin. The dose he would have needed to have had would needed to have been massive, much higher than Litvinenko, who lit up half of London with radiation just by walking about.

    Litvinenko had 200 times the lethal dose administered. Assuming a similar dosage, the activity at this stage would have been so much lower than was discovered in Lausanne. The only way that the current levels could be explained is if he had a few thousand times more Polonium administered.

    There’s currently not enough evidence to conclude that Arafat was poisoned. I’m hoping that al-Jazeera haven’t been sold a dummy here, because their credibility will take a massive blow if this turns out not to be true, along with all the prominent figures who have come out in support of the Polonium thesis.

    1. You’ve offered no scientific evidence to support your claims about dosages. But nice try. What a concern troll. You care so profoundly for Al Jazeera’s journalistic credibility. How solicitous of you.

      1. No one knows the exact dosage, nor the effective dosage as they are two separate things. We can only work backwards from other data. Various estimates have suggested between 10 and 200 times the mean lethal dose was ingested. Bag-of-a-napkin calculations can be found here for example:

        http://www.ionactive.co.uk/news_article.html?n=42

        Or on the Litvinenko poisoning Wiki page:

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvinenko

        What isn’t in doubt is that this left a massive radiation trail around London and the World. Polonium 210 is also a gamma emitter, and we would need to explain why the “Laboratoire de contrôle radiotoxicologique des Armées” didn’t detect the Polonium whilst doing urine gamma spectroscopy back in 2004.

        The report is here for those interested:

        http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/394180/final-report-english.pdf

        If we assume a similar level of dosage to Mr Litvinenko, the numbers detected in Lausanne are just too high. Way too high. Either he was given a much, MUCH higher dose, or the Polonium was added afterwards. Neither of these scenarios make a great deal of sense. Why give such a huge dose considering it vastly increases the chances of people around him falling ill with radiation poisoning? Why add the Polonium later? – or perhaps who added it later? – Given that it would have needed to have been a government like Russia/Israel/US.

        1. Polonium cannot harm someone unless ingested. The skin acts as a strong barrier. So it would not necessarily have harmed anyone around him if he was given an enormous dose.

          As for why they would not have detected it in 2004, no one had ever been murdered using Polonium before, so they wouldn’t have even known to have tested format.

          I don’t trust “back of the envelope” calculations on matters like this.

          1. It’s true that if in solid form, it’s a basic alpha emitter and not particularly of concern, but if the Polonium is in suspension, as it almost certainly would be, the vapour is toxic and easily inhaled – bearing in mind that the mean lethal dose for ingestion is 50 nanograms. It takes only a tiny amount to make someone very ill.

            “As for why they would not have detected it in 2004, no one had ever been murdered using Polonium before, so they wouldn’t have even known to have tested format.”

            No one would have been looking for it, true, but the team in Lausanne went over the spectroscopy results from the data taken in 2004. The signature gamma emission wasn’t detected. This still requires an explanation, of which there are many potential candidates; dodgy equipment, operator error, conspiracy, no Polonium present etc.

            As for “back of the envelope” calculation, it’s all we’re likely to ever have. We’re working backwards using a series of estimated coefficients. At best it will be an order of magnitude estimate.

    2. @ Avram
      That’s exactly why it’s so important to make an autopsy, isn’t it ? And how come the US and France don’t seem too happy about that ? You think it’s because they know Palestinians, let’s say Hamas…., might have poisoned Arafat ?

      1. Comment below was intended for you.

        The bottom line is this – I’m confident that the Polonium came from a state with advanced nuclear capabilities. US/Russia/Israel/France etc.

        What I’m not convinced about it the “when”. It’s possible that Arafat received a massive dose, much bigger than Litvinenko, but I would have to be convinced of it. In some ways, it’s more intriguing if he didn’t die of Polonium poisoning. Virtually no one will be surprised if he turns out to have been murdered with Polonium (possibly just me), but if he isn’t, what then? Where did the Polonium come from? And why?

  11. The Polonium was almost certainly sourced from one of the big nuclear powers, probably US/Russia/Israel.

    I too will be interested in seeing the results of any autopsy, because as things stand, nothing makes any sense.

    1. According to specialists meeting in Amman, Arafat died of unknown poison, but whether it’s Polonium or not, is still not sure
      http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=503831
      In this article on Arafat’s sister being against an autopsy, it’s confirmed what everyone but the hasbaristas (someone here claimed Arafat didn’t have long to live anyhow) have known for years:
      “Meanwhile medical files released for the first time portray Arafat as healthy a month before he died”
      http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=503905
      This combined with the obsessive insistance on Arafat’s dying of AIDS, even 8 years later, the manipulation of Ashraf al-Kurdi, Arafat’s personnal doctor’s interview on al-Jazeera, by an Israeli television channel, all this hints at Israel having something to hide, doesn’t it ?
      There was a poll some years back: I can’t remember the exact numbers, but around 75% of Palestinians were convinced that Arafat had been poisoned, and around 20% of them that it was an intra-Palestinian affair. Objectively, Israel and various Palestinians, such as the ones in power now, had an interest in getting rid of Arafat, and the name of Mohammad Dahlan keeps coming back. Wonder why ? I wouldn’t be astonished if this were a joint operation across the Green Line.

      1. Conspiracy theories are characterised by the taking of a disparate set of data points and joining them together to create a picture which suits the theorist.

        At the minute, there are many more questions than answers. There simply isn’t anywhere near enough evidence to conclude he was poisoned with Polonium. And honestly, even if he had been struck by lightening, I suspect I would still have been hearing about Israeli techniques to manipulate the weather.

        1. You should read the Uri Avnery-article in the Guardian from back in 2007 quoting Uri Dan on Ariel Sharon and his ‘deal’ with Bush concerning getting rid of Arafat. It’s not that the State of Israel doesn’t have a long history of killing Palestinian leaders and it’s not that they didn’t benefit from his death, is it ?
          We maybe never get the truth about what (or who) killed Arafat, but you don’t have to be addicted to conspiracy theories to think Israel might have a role in it. Khaled Mesha’al and Mahmoud al-Mabhouh were real stuff, or you maybe think the latter wasn’t killed by the Mossad ?

          1. Even when there isn’t sufficient evidence to prove he was murdered, you will believe it. I don’t know if he was murdered and neither do you. I base my opinions on fact, and there is insufficient evidence (currently) to conclude he was murdered.

            Not wanting to put too fine a point on it, but I’m a physicist, and I’m better placed to assess the evidence than you. There’s no need to attack me just because I disagree with you.

          2. What do you think I’ve written thousands of words about over the past week? Those are words examining the evidence & arguments from every possible angle to determine whether there is sufficient proof to support it. I await more definitive proof. But my track record on these things is pretty damn good.

            You don’t base your opinions on “fact.” You base them on your own pro-Israel prejudices. Arguing that because you’re a physicist you can’t possibly be prejudiced on this question is ridiculous since there are many academics who allow their political prejudices to cloud their judgment when it comes to Israel.

          3. You assume that because I’m not leaping to an unsupported conclusion that I am pro-Israel. The danger of that line of thought is that it leaves you isolated from considering alternative positions.

            The evidence is not conclusive, it’s that simple. You may turn out to be right, but that doesn’t alter the fact that we don’t have the evidence to reach a conclusion yet.

            Two major problems still need to be addressed:

            – The Lausanne team went over the raw data from the 2004 spectroscopy and concluded there was no sign of Polonium.

            – The Lausanne team also pointed out that the numbers they detected were also much, MUCH higher than they should have been assuming a similar dosage to Mr Litvinenko.

            An unbiased mind would conclude that these data points at least remove the notion of anything being conclusive at this point.

            Israel has form when it comes to assassinating Palestinian leaders, and there is plenty of circumstantial evidence, but that’s all it is currently.

          4. I don’t think Avram Meitner is influenced by “pro-Israel prejudice”. I took a look at his website and he has some pretty good debunking of hasbara.

  12. If Arafat was poisoned, then not without the knowledge and help from Abbas, Dahlan et al. .
    These are the ones, who benefited from the murder, interested in sweeping it under the carpet – i.e. interested to hide that behind a smokescreen saying ‘we couldn’t do anything, because of the pressure by the US and France’. IMHO.

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