U-Turn on Arafat investigations: French experts’ report says no proof he was poisoned

PARIS – Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s widow says extensive investigation by French scientists has ruled out poisoning by radioactive polonium.

Scientists from several countries have tried to determine what killed Arafat and whether polonium played a role. He died in a French military hospital in 2004. Palestinians have long suspected Israel of poisoning him, which Israel denies.

Suha Arafat told reporters in Paris on Tuesday that the French scientists’ report excludes the possibility of polonium poisoning.

That’s in contrast to a recent Swiss lab report that said Arafat was probably poisoned by polonium, a rare and extremely lethal substance.

Suha Arafat said she’s “upset by these contradictions by the best European experts on the matter.”

The French report is part of an ongoing French legal investigation into whether Arafat was murdered.