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Palestinians never give up mission to probe Arafat's death

Xinhua, July 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Palestinian inquiry commission will carry on with the mission to probe the circumstances of the death of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the commission said Wednesday.

The commissions' decision was made in an emailed official press statement after the French General Prosecutor decided earlier on Wednesday to close the file of investigating the reasons behind Arafat's death.

"The commission was and still carrying on with its pure professional work in the probing process, regardless other investigations or legal measures were made or taken in other countries," said the statement.

The inquiry commission also said that its mission is carried on in accordance to the law under the Palestinian jurisdiction, adding that it only goes into this direction and "will never stop until reaching the truth."

Earlier on Wednesday, the French General Prosecutor decided to close the file of probing into the death of Arafat and not to follow up any investigation at all without presenting a verdict to the court by Arafat's widow Suha Arafat.

The Palestinian commission noted that it demanded the help of experts from several countries to know facts or indications related to the reasons behind the death of Arafat.

In December 2013, Swiss and Russian committees investigating Arafat's death said in separate reports that Arafat was likely poisoned with radioactive polonium-210.

However, the findings did not conclusively suggest that the poisoning was the final reason for the death of Arafat at the age of 75.

At the time, Tawfiq al-Tirrawi, head of the commission, accused Israel of being "the main, fundamental and only suspect." His remarks followed French media reports that the French experts rule out the common belief that Arafat was poisoned to death.

Arafat died at a French hospital near Paris, where he had been receiving treatment for two weeks after failing ill at his Israeli-besieged West Bank headquarters in Nov. 2004.

In 2012, Swiss, Russian and French experts exhumed Arafat's body and took samples from his remains for further tests. Endit