Yasser Arafat poisoned with polonium?

[HiPointDem]

Last edited Wed Jul 4, 2012, 12:58 AM - Edit history (1)

Eight years after his death, it remains a mystery exactly what killed the longtime Palestinian leader. Tests conducted in Paris found no obvious traces of poison in Arafat’s system. Rumors abound about what might have killed him – cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, even allegations that he was infected with HIV.

A nine-month investigation by Al Jazeera has revealed that none of those rumors were true: Arafat was in good health until he suddenly fell ill on October 12, 2004.

More importantly, tests reveal that Arafat’s final personal belongings – his clothes, his toothbrush, even his iconic kaffiyeh – contained abnormal levels of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element. Those personal effects, which were analyzed at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, were variously stained with Arafat’s blood, sweat, saliva and urine. The tests carried out on those samples suggested that there was a high level of polonium inside his body when he died.

“I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr. Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids,” said Dr. Francois Bochud, the director of the institute.

The findings have led Suha Arafat, his widow, to ask the Palestinian Authority to exhume her late husband’s body from its grave in Ramallah...“I know the Palestinian Authority has been trying to discover what Yasser died from,” Suha Arafat said in an interview. “And now we are helping them. We have very substantial, very important results.”

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/whatkilledarafat/2012/07/20127383653774794.html

[lonestarnot]

1. Wow. Interesting.

[HiPointDem]

2. i thought so too. i remember when he was suddenly at death's door it seemed kind of -- well,

sudden.

In late 2004, after effectively being confined within his Ramallah compound for over two years by the Israeli army, Arafat became ill, fell into a coma and died on 11 November 2004 at the age of 75. While the exact cause of his death remains unknown and no autopsy was performed, his doctors spoke of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and cirrhosis. Levels of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element, in quantities much higher than normal, have been found in his personal items, suggesting possible poisoning.

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

[Scootaloo]

3. If true...

Eyes turn to Russia, whose RMKB reactors are the source of 97% of polonium 210... 45 grams annually.

[HiPointDem]

4. He had been in israeli custody for 2 years when he died.

[Scootaloo]

5. "Custody" isn't quite accurate

Israel had him hemmed into a single building in Ramallah, but he wasn't "in custody." Israel didn't have that kind of close access to him.

The polonium thing, if true, is weird. Personally? I'm inclined to accept he was a 75 year old man in generally poor condition who slid downhill fast. It does happen, even in quality care.

[HiPointDem]

6. Under house arrest. I say that's in custody.

In late 2004, after effectively being confined within his Ramallah compound for over two years by the Israeli army, Arafat became ill, fell into a coma and died on 11 November 2004 at the age of 75.

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jun/11/world/fg-izpals11

Israel had him under house arrest, which means they were determining who entered & exited his home.

Why would 'all eyes' look to russia in such a case?

[Scootaloo]

7. Custody means someone is in the hands of the authorities

The Israelis controlled the comings and goings, but he was not directly in their hands.

The reason for Russia is that Russia is the major source of polonium-210. 97% annually according to Wiki; and apparently 97% of annual polonium production is 45 grams of the stuff.

However... doing some more reading. Turns out that there were several cases of polonium-210 poisoning in Israel between 1957-69, primarily due to overexposures in the lab.

[HiPointDem]

9. I'm fairly certain that any of the world's security services could get their hands on polonium if

they wanted to. That 97% figure, I think, is pretty meaningless. As are all such figures. They don't really tell citizens anything meaningful about those kinds of things. any country with nuclear facilities can produce polonium.

and as for arafat not being 'in custody' -- you're splitting mad hairs. he was in prison in his own home and his guards controlled his access to other people, supplies, etc. and undoubtably they monitored his phone communications as well.

that's prison. that's in custody. that's 'in the hands of the authorities'.

[Scootaloo]

14. Well, sort of true...

Apparently it's a product of the specific process used by the Russians' reactor technology, the RBMK reactor. They're not in use anywhere else; especially after Chernobyl exposed how goddamned dangerous they are. Of course, I'm sure there are other ways to get the stuff; it IS a natural product of uranium decay, after all.

My point is, I think this polonium thing is a little "out there." He was a 75 year old man living in a high-stress situation (hell, for most of his life) who had zero access to medical care for two years; call it custody, call it what you want, he didn't have a fucking hospital in there. He was a heavy smoker (and rumor is, just as heavy a drinker) all the way up 'till they finally wheeled him out and took him to Paris. As early as the 90's he was showing signs of Parkinson's; after Oslo, graffiti in Jericho was mocking him for his trembling.

If the autopsy shows polonium in there, that'll be really interesting. However, there is possibly another source for that much contamination, rather than direct poisoning; depleted uranium munitions contain polonium (like I said, it's a product of uranium decay.) And apparently, back in 2001, Ynet announced that Israel did in fact have DU weapons. Ultimately though, my bet is on hm being an old man who slid downhill really fast after some illness or another.

[HiPointDem]

15. it's also a specific product of bombarding lead or bismuth with neutrons in a cyclotron. not high-

tech stuff.

anyone with nuclear facilities -- and that includes universities with cyclotrons -- could make it if they had a mind to.

arafat didn't drink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat#Illness_and_death

the reports of parkinson's originated with israeli intelligence:

http://www.middleeast.org/archives/1998_11_06.htm

and were denied.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-22967550.html

here's a clip from 2000: no signs of parkinson's.

a lot of bullshit was reported as truth in arafat's last years.

[Scootaloo]

16. Okay

I'm still holding doubts until the results are in. Why didn't they do an autopsy when he died? Family request?

[lonestarnot]

8. As would I.

But he based it on this apparently, "RMKB reactors are the source of 97% of polonium 210... 45 grams annually" being produced in Russia. So the aquisition would 3% shy of jumping to a certainty.

[HiPointDem]

10. if you believe those figures are the last word on the topic. which i don't.

[lonestarnot]

12. I do not and there is never a last word, there is always another.

[Selatius]

11. The source being from Russia may not necessarily implicate the Russian gov't itself.

Russia, since the end of the Cold War, has had problems in the area of safely securing its nuclear stocks. The long time fear is that some of the weapons or the plutonium or uranium and other such materials would fall into the wrong hands and be used by an independent actor outside Russian control. The result has been that Russia has had to rely on international agencies since the 1990s to help to audit and monitor its nuclear stocks.

[HiPointDem]

13. russian reactors are monitored by iaea. israel's reactors aren't. anyone with nuclear facilities

can produce polonium by bombarding bismuth with neutrons.

the only way we peons would know is if some other nuclear establishment reported it.