Russian experts rule out the hypothesis of poisoning in the death of Arafat

Russian experts to analyze samples of the remains of Yasser Arafat conclude that the death of Palestinian leader was natural and discarded polonium poisoning, said Thursday the agency that conducted the tests. Arafat "died of natural causes and not due to radiation," said Vladimir UIBA, director of the Bureau of Biological Analysis, quoted by Russian news agencies. These findings are consistent with those of the French experts, contested by the widow of the Palestinian leader who died in the historic 2004 French Percy military hospital near Paris. Palestinian leaders blame Israel for the death of Arafat. The Palestinian ambassador in Moscow said on Thursday the Russian news agency Ria Novosti that the investigation into the death of Yasser Arafat will continue, despite a report that Russian experts conclude, as the French, it was a natural death. "I can only say that it was decided to proceed. Respect your position (experts), we attach great value to their work, but has decided to continue that work," research, Faed Mustafa said. The exhumation of the remains of the Palestinian leader was conducted in November 2012 by order of the French judges in charge of investigating the case. Then about 60 samples were taken and were distributed for analysis by three teams of researchers: Swiss, French and Russian. Everyone did their job individually, without maintaining contact with others. At the beginning of December, the prosecutor of Nanterre, near Paris, said French experts concluded the "absence of poisoning with polonium-210 (a highly toxic radioactive substance) of Arafat."Palestinian leader's widow, Suha Arafat said he would use this report to French justice.  An article in the British medical journal The Lancet relaunched the hypothesis of poisoning the Palestinian leader. The article cited the results of a report by Swiss experts have found traces of polonium 210 in Arafat's personal effects. Both Swiss and French teams noted doses higher than the average polonium in the body of Arafat.But according to the French, the presence of a naturally occurring radioactive gas, radon, in the external environment explains these quantities. In November the Palestinian leadership, ensuring rely on reports from Swiss laboratories as they confirm the thesis of a poisoning, designated Israel as the only suspect in her "murder". "Israel is the first, main and only suspect in the murder of Yasser Arafat," said committee chairman Palestinian official investigation into his death, Tawfiq Tiraui. The causes of death of Arafat, who died in November 2003 after a sudden deterioration of his health, never were elucidated. "I remain convinced that the martyr Arafat did not die of natural causes," said Suha Arafat after the publication of the French report, and said he was "very surprised that the French medical report (...) summarizing four pages." According to a survey released Tuesday by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), the majority of Palestinians (59%) think that Arafat was poisoned by Israel.