Abbas seeks int’l inquiry into Arafat’s death

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pushes for an international inquiry into the 2004 death of his predecessor Yassir Arafat, the Central Committee of Abbas’ Fatah party said Sunday.

In his visit to Cairo earlier this week, Abbas asked the Secretary-General of the Arab League to activate an old resolution by the organization to form an international investigation committee into Arafat’s death, said Nabil Abu Rdineh, spokesperson for Abbas and for the Central Committee.

Arafat died at a French hospital near Paris from blood disorder, but tests on his belongings and then the exhumation of his body for more analysis last year suggested that he might have been poisoned with radioactive polonium-210.

Last week, a Palestinian investigation panel blamed Israel for being behind Arafat’s death as the “first, only and fundamental suspect.”