JORDAN
Suspicion of poisoning pursued in Arafat case
Published: April 02, 2009, 12:30 am
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AMMAN, Jordan (AP)— Nearly five years after Yasser Arafat died from what French doctors called a massive brain hemorrhage, Arab doctors will meet today in Jordan to look into lingering suspicions that the Palestinian leader was poisoned.
Arafat’s death at a military hospital outside Paris quickly led to speculation that he had been killed by Israel, which viewed him as an obstacle to a peace treaty. Israel denied any role in his death.
At the time, French doctors were tight-lipped about Arafat’s condition, and his widow refused an autopsy. Palestinian leaders have never given a definitive cause of his death.
French doctors who treated Arafat concluded that he died of a “massive brain hemorrhage.”
Jordanian heart surgeon Abdullah al-Bashir said today’s meeting involving seven to eight doctors—many of whom treated Arafat—will try to determine whether he was poisoned.
Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, a Jordanian neurologist who regularly examined Arafat, said lab tests revealed that Arafat had a low platelet count and that poison could be an explanation.
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