The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Tuesday harshly criticized Farouk Qaddoumi, secretary-general of Fatah, for accusing President Mahmoud Abbas of involvement in the alleged poisoning of Yasser Arafat.

The PLO said in a statement that as part of Qaddoumi’s efforts “to disrupt the sixth convention of Fatah, he made hysterical remarks to reporters during his visit to Amman in the last two days.”

Qaddoumi said that Abbas and Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan were involved in poisoning Arafat. He said that the minutes of a joint Palestinian-Israeli-American meeting held in early March 2004 proved that the two were involved in the poisoning of Arafat and the assassination of Hamas leader Abdul Aziz Al-Rantisi.

Qaddoumi said the meeting was attended by Abbas, Dahlan, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, his Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and an American delegation led by William Burns.

Those who attended the meeting planned to assassinate a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders, Qaddoumi said, adding that the minutes of that meeting were sent to him by Arafat himself.

The Fatah official said that he was coming out with the disclosure now “to warn Palestinian factions of what is being hatched against them.” The PLO said that “these allegations are the invention of a man who has lost political and psychological balance.”

Arafat’s death in November 2004 in a military hospital near Paris triggered rumors that he had been poisoned. French doctors said the 75-year-old died from a “massive brain hemorrhage” but could not explain what prompted it. Arafat’s widow, Suha, refused to allow an autopsy.

Accusations have since been routinely directed at the Israeli government which saw Arafat as an obstacle to peace, putting him under house arrest in Ramallah and allegedly talked of eliminating him. Israel has strongly denied any involvement in his death.

Arafat became ill in October 2004 and was flown from his Ramallah headquarters to France. He died a few weeks later.

Arafat is seen as a national hero and was the first to give the Palestinian cause a legitimate voice on the world stage. His photograph still adorns homes, offices and public buildings in the Palestinian Authority-controlled West Bank.