Minister of Justice in the deposed government of Hamas in Gaza Faraj el-Ghoul on Monday said his courts are ready to receive judicial suits over the death of late leader Yasser Arafat.

Arafat, the founder of Fatah in 1965 and the chairman of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), died in a French hospital in November 2004 of a mysterious disease. Palestinians supposedly said he might be poisoned.

"We demanded to form an inquiry panel that follows up the case of assassinating late leader Yasser Arafat, but the authority in Ramallah didn't, although it was clear that he was killed," said al-Ghoul in a statement.

Two weeks ago, senior Fatah leader Farouq el-Qadoumi accused President Mahmoud Abbas and his security aid Mohamed Dahlan of poisoning Arafat and killing him. Abbas and Dahlan denied el-Qadoumi's claims.

"Forming the panel would urge the Palestinian people to press on that leadership (the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah) to form another inquiry panel to investigate the death of their eternal leader," said el-Ghoul.

Arafat was not an ordinary man, and he was the leader of the Palestinian people and one of their symbols, el-Ghoul added.

"He is no less than late Lebanon's Premier Rafiq Hariri, who was assassinated in February 2005."

El-Ghoul also said that his government is ready to take any judicial suit, "but the problem is with those convicted who are the rulers of the authority and stay in Ramallah, where it is difficult to bring them to court."

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2009)