Analyst: Polonium found on Arafat's clothing was planted

[Chris]

Analyst: Polonium found on Arafat's clothing was planted
By YAAKOV LAPPIN
07/05/2012 22:03
Senior counter-terrorism analyst tells 'Post' the high levels of radioactive poison polonium reportedly found on belongings of late Palestinian leader indicate toxin was planted on him much later.
Deceased PLO chairman Yasser Arafat Photo: REUTERS

The high levels of the radioactive poison polonium reportedly found on the belongings of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat indicate that the toxin was planted on them long after his death, a senior counterterrorism analyst told The Jerusalem Post Thursday. Dr. Ely Karmon, of the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya’s Institute for Counterterrorism, is a specialist in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism.

Responding to an Al Jazeera report published Wednesday – which said that researchers at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, discovered abnormally high levels of polonium on Arafat’s belongings – Karmon said that the half-life of the substance would make it impossible for polonium to have been discovered at such high levels if it had been used to kill Arafat eight years ago. According to the Al Jazeera report, polonium has a half-life of 138 days, “meaning that half of the substance decays roughly every four-and-a-half months.”

more.................Analyst: Polonium found on Arafat's clothi... JPost - Middle East

[Chris]

Palestinians divided over exhuming Arafat
By NIDA TUMA
07/05/2012 21:47
The majority of those interested in the main streets of Ramallah pointed the finger at Israel over Arafat's death.
Yasser Arafat's tomb at the Muqata in Ramallah Photo: Mohamad Torokman / Reuters

RAMALLAH – Palestinians expressed a wide spectrum of opinions about Al Jazeera’s latest investigative report suggesting late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have been killed by the radioactive element polonium- 210. There has been no accepted explanation for his death in a French military hospital eight years ago, although Palestinians have not excluded a conspiracy. They believe that poison killed Arafat but lack the required evidence. Most of those The Jerusalem Post interviewed in the main streets of Ramallah on Thursday pointed their finger at Israel, basing their accusations on the fact that Israel considered Arafat a main obstacle to peace in the Middle East.

more.................Palestinians divided over exhuming Arafat - JPost - Middle East

[readytogo]

The "Palestinians" will believe what they want to believe in spite of the evidence!

[mattfivefour]

Sadly so.

[Suzanne]

It's disturbing to think that Arafat's widow would still be trying to start trouble regarding his death after eight years. She knows exactly what he died from. If Arafat had been poisoned, she would have published his medical reports in every newspaper throughout the world and been on every "news" program who would have had her.

[readytogo]

It's disturbing to think that Arafat's widow would still be trying to start trouble regarding his death after eight years. She knows exactly what he died from. If Arafat had been poisoned, she would have published his medical reports in every newspaper throughout the world and been on every "news" program who would have had her.

I don't know that it's Arafat's widow that's doing this. It could be someone else using a "poor naive woman" to do this. Like one article said, if Arafat had been poisoned like this, she would have died a long time ago by keeping his effects.

[Joseph The Carpenter]

So where did the PLO get the polonium? Syria, Libya, Iran, North Korea, Russia.

Do terrorists now have WMD?

[Suzanne]

I don't know that it's Arafat's widow that's doing this. It could be someone else using a "poor naive woman" to do this. Like one article said, if Arafat had been poisoned like this, she would have died a long time ago by keeping his effects.

It's quite possible that someone other than Arafat's widow is trying to stir up trouble, but that lady is no shrinking violet. I remember how she used to go public and say that she would be honored to have her son be a "Palestinian martyr" by blowing himself up in Israel if she had one. She stopped saying that when women started doing it. My guess is that volunteering a non-existent son to be a martyr is a lot easier than volunteering her very real daughter to do the same.