Arafat could have died of poisoning – scientists

Findings may scuttle Middle East talks.

YASSER Arafat, the late Palestinian leader, may well have been poisoned with radioactive polonium.

A team of international scientists has come to this conclusion in findings released yesterday that could solve a 10-year riddle but torpedo the latest Middle East peace process.

His remains, which were briefly exhumed last year, contained unusually high levels of polonium-210, a substance experts say can usually be obtained only from governments.

The conclusions are likely to reawaken allegations that the late guerilla leader – long a totemic symbol of the Palestinian national causes – was murdered, possibly by Israel, which considered him a terrorist.

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