Haaretz
Kislev 9, 5765
Yasser
Arafat's nephew refused Monday to rule out poisoning as cause of the
Palestinian leader's death, even though tests had shown no trace of any
known poison.
Asked if he could assure Palestinians that Arafat
was not killed by poison, Nasser al-Kidwa said: "No, I cannot assure
you."
"Toxicology tests were made, and no poison known to the
doctors was detected," said al-Kidwa.
"We don't have proof that
suggests there was poisoning. We don't have proof that there wasn't, in a
definitive way," al-Kidwa said.
He said that Arafat's medical file
does not give a definite cause for Arafat's death on November 11 in a
Paris military hospital.
"There is no clear diagnosis of the
reason" for Arafat's death, he told a news conference.
"In all
cases, I believe that the Israeli authority is largely responsible for
what happened, at least because of the confinement of the late president
to [his headquarters] in very bad conditions for three years."
But
when Arafat was in hospital in Paris before his death, Palestinian Foreign
Minister Nabil Sha?ath told reporters that although the doctors' diagnosis
had been inconclusive, "it rules out poisoning totally."
Al-Kidwa,
who is the Palestinian observer to the United Nations, spoke after
receiving Arafat's medical records from the French hospital that treated
the Palestinian leader, despite objections from Arafat's
widow.
"The dossier was given to the nephew," General Christian
Estripeau, a spokesman for the French military's health services, said
earlier Monday.
Arafat's widow, Suha, who already has taken
possession of his medical records, had threatened a legal fight to prevent
other family members from obtaining them.
Mrs. Arafat's lawyers
issued a statement late Sunday saying that the military hospital where her
husband was treated outside Paris "would alone face the consequences" if
his medical records were released to any other family
members.
"Madame Arafat fully understands the diplomatic and
historic reasons that exist, but that does not mean the state should be
able to ignore the law," said the lawyers' statement.