Roundup: Key results accomplished on Arafat's death probe: Palestinians

The Palestinians on Wednesday said that "important results" were accomplished in investigating the circumstance of their late leader Yasser Arafat, and these results will lead to resolving the mystery of his death 11 years ago.

Earlier, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a recorded TV message aired on Palestine TV that the investigation has come a long way, and will continue until the truth is uncovered.

On Wednesday, the Palestinians marked the 11 anniversary of the death of Arafat, who passed away in 2004 because of a mysterious disease in a French hospital. The Palestinians accused Israel of poisoning him.

"The committee will carry on with its investigation until the truth is unveiled," said Abbas, adding "We tell Yasser Arafat that we are following his steps and we are sticking to our national merits and rights."

Nasser al-Qedwa, Arafat's nephew, also member of Fatah Party's Central Committee, told Xinhua that the investigating committee "are about to announce specific results."

Al-Qedwa, who is also the chairman of Arafat Foundation, said that declaring the results of the investigations "will be a very good matter and an important step to unveil the complete truth on Arafat's assassination."

Tawfiq Tirawi, head of the Palestinian Committee to investigate Arafat's death, informed al-Qedwa that the team is about to declare important results. Al-Qedwa said "I hope the results will be declared as soon as possible."

On Tuesday night, Tirawi announced in a TV statement that his committee found facts leading to a person who stands behind assassinating Arafat. However, Tirawi declined to give any more details on the identity of this person. But Tirawi accused Israel of being behind murdering Arafat.

He added that the Palestinian investigations are focusing on the possibility of a collaborator who managed to penetrate into the security circle around Arafat.

"If this is unveiled and resolved, then it will be easy to unveil who holds the political responsibility for assassinating Arafat and getting rid of him, and certainly the one who holds this responsibility is in Israel," said al-Qedwa.

In 2001, the Israeli army besieged Arafat at his headquarters in Ramallah after the failure of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel at that time announced that Arafat is not a peace partner and the right-wing leaders in Israel called for getting rid of him.

Meanwhile, al-Qedwa said transferring Arafat's death file to the International Criminal Court (ICC) is complicated at this moment "because the court is not specialized in handling such cases."

Arafat was buried in Ramallah without taking his body to the autopsy. However, in Nov. 27, 2012, samples of his corps were taken from his grave for testing by Swiss, French and Russian experts. However, the experts said at that time that Arafat's death was natural.

Ahmed Rafique, the political science professor at al-Quds University in the West Bank, said that all the previous international investigations into the circumstances of Arafat's death "hasn't so far revealing whether Arafat was poisoned or died of a disease."

He said that the investigations have been going "too slow, and are all linked to other political issues." Endit