Who Killed Arafat?

Arafat at a meeting in Ramallah in 2004.

Hussein Hussein/PPO via Getty Images

Who—or what—killed Yasser Arafat? Four years after the Palestinian leader’s death, and rumors and conspiracy theories still abound. Was it late-stage Parkinson’s, AIDS, or old age? These questions have percolated back into headlines, courtesy of Fatah’s sixth General Assembly, which met today and adopted a proposal mandating a full investigation into Arafat’s death, presupposed on the following conditions, according to The Jerusalem Post,: “Israel bears full responsibility for his death, that the issue continues to remain open, and that the investigation enlists international support.” Bassam Abu Sharif, Arafat’s old political adviser, raised the proposal, acting at the suggestion of off-again PLO leader Farouk Qaddoumi, purveyor of the West Bank’s grassy knoll theory: that Arafat was done in by a joint Israeli-Palestinian plot. Abu Sharif says he doesn’t buy that bill of goods, but thinks an inquiry is nevertheless in order. This development will likely further complicate Fatah’s dealings with the Netayanhu government, coming on the heels of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was fingered by Qaddoumi as one of Arafat’s death-dealers, lately denying that Israel is a Jewish state.

Fatah Adopts Resolution Blaming Israel for Arafat’s Death [JPost]