Xinhua
July 9, 2012 - 12:00am
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-07/09/c_131704262.htm


The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) invited Swiss experts to the West Bank to take samples of late President Yasser Arafat's remains for more tests.

"This reflects the Palestinian leadership's insistence to continue the investigations into the truth and the circumstances of Arafat's death," said Saeb Erekat, a senior member of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

The invitation was sent to the Lausanne-based Institute of Radiation Physics, which examined Arafat's personal belongings and discovered amounts of the radioactive element polonium.

Erekat said the Palestinian side was waiting for the Swiss experts to set up an appointment for their mission.

The testing of Arafat's belongings occurred as part of an instigative report produced by al-Jazeera satellite channel and broadcasted last week, eight years after Arafat's death at a hospital in France.

The Palestinian leadership presented no conclusive reason for Arafat's death amid numerous reports that he was poisoned.

Following al-Jazeera's report, the PNA said it has no problem exhuming Arafat's body from his West Bank grave for more tests if his family requests such an action.

Erekat said that Arafat's family has asked for the exhumation, adding that President Mahmoud Abbas ordered to invite the Swiss scientists and collect the samples.




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