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Arafat died of aids or poisening { November 11 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/622564.htmlhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/622564.html
Last update - 21:01 08/09/2005
Medical experts: Yasser Arafat died of AIDS or poisoning
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, and AP
An analysis of the confidential medical report on Yasser Arafat's death reveals three main possibilities as to the cause: poisoning, AIDS or an infection.
Israel and foreign doctors who have seen the report say the details do not lead to a conclusive determination on what caused the death.
After Arafat died on November 11, 2004 at a military hospital in Paris, copies of the pathology report compiled by the hospital staff - and kept under wraps until now - were handed over to Arafat's widow, Suha, and senior Palestinian Authority officials. The report's findings are now being published for the first time in the revised edition of "The Seventh War" by journalists Amos Harel and Avi Isacharoff, to be released next week by Yedioth Ahronoth in Hebrew.
The chapter of the book dealing with Arafat's death appears on Friday in the Haaretz magazine. To read the full story click here.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/622612.html
The report does not lift the veil of mystery surrounding Arafat's death entirely: It lists the immediate cause of death as a massive brain hemorrhage, but adds that "a discussion among a large number of medical experts... shows that it is impossible to pinpoint a cause that will explain the combination of symptoms that led to the death of the patient."
Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, Arafat's personal physician who played no part in the late PA chairman's medical care during the final weeks of his life, said that he knows that the French doctors found the AIDS virus in Arafat's blood. Al-Kurdi refuses to divulge the source of this information, but claims that the virus was put into Arafat's blood in an effort to blur the traces of poisoning, which was the cause of death.
Most senior Palestinian officials, including Mohammed Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub, have said in interviews with the book's authors that they are convinced Arafat was poisoned by Israel. The Palestinians mention Israel's assassination attempt by means of poison on Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Amman in 1997. According to the officials, Arafat was not sufficiently cautious and could easily have been poisoned, because he would receive candies and medicines from visitors and consume them without medical supervision.
A statement from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office defined the poison claims as "nonsense," adding that such claims were investigated in the past and found to be false.
Prof. Gil Lugassi, president of the Israel Hematologists Association who read the French report, said that the symptoms described could be typical of AIDS.
"An infection that begins in the digestive system and deteriorates so quickly into the collapse of the clotting system is typical of AIDS," he says. "What is simply unacceptable and seems very perplexing is the absolute disregard for the possibility of AIDS.
"The report mentions dozens of illnesses or bacteria that were tested for, but there is no evidence of an HIV test, or even a mention of a discussion on the matter. I can only assume that if there were an AIDS test that gave a negative result, there would not have been any problem in writing this in the report."
An AIDS expert from one of Israel's major hospitals also says that the report's total disregard for the possibility of AIDS raises some tough questions. Nevertheless, he adds, the possibility that Arafat had contracted AIDS was very small.
The expert, who also reviewed the French medical report, says it is unlikely that an illness that continued for some two weeks, with severe diarrhea, vomiting, harm to the digestive system, and the eventual collapse of the blood clotting system, was caused by AIDS.
Another senior Israeli physician who read the report said that based on the symptoms that appeared in Arafat some four hours after he ate dinner on October 12, 2004, about a month before his death, it appears that his death was caused by that meal. "It is a classic case of food poisoning that is taught at medical school," the doctor said.
The doctor adds that according to the symptoms described in the report, it appears that Arafat came down with regular food poisoning caused by a bacteria that releases poisons. Such poisoning should have been discovered in the tests carried out on Arafat in Ramallah, and should have been countered with antibiotics.
The French medical report stipulates that no traces of poison were found in Arafat's body, but the tests were not comprehensive and did not include checks for all types of known poisons.
The report does not clear up the ambiguities surrounding Yasser Arafat's death. It also leaves a third option: Arafat died of an infection.
Senior Palestinian Authority officials, including Jibril Rajoub: The Rais was poisoned.
Arafat's personal doctor: The HIV virus was detected in his blood shortly before his death.
Prime Minister's Office: Arafat was not poisoned. "Absolute nonsense."
Erekat: No proof
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he had not seen the medical records but had been told by many doctors that it was still not clear what had caused Arafat's death.
Erekat said he had not heard any proof that Arafat had AIDS or had been poisoned.
"The French report did not indicate any of these things," Erekat said Thursday.
"The family should ask the French doctors to publicize this and put an end to all these allegations and rumors."
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa, a nephew of Arafat and one of the few people who had access to Arafat and his doctors in France, said the report sheds no new light and the cause of death remains unknown.
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