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Ray · 09-14-2005, 16:36 PM

Quote:

VIEW: Who murdered Arafat? —Uri Avnery

In the absence of symptoms of any known disease, and since there are clear indications of poisoning, the highest probability is that Yasser Arafat was poisoned while having dinner four hours before the first symptoms appeared. I can testify that the security arrangements around the Ra’is were very lax

A few days ago, the Haaretz headline screamed: “Doctors: Arafat died of Aids or poisoning”. Aids appeared first.

For dozens of years, the Israeli media has conducted, with government inspiration, a concentrated campaign against the Palestinian leader. Millions of words of hatred were poured on him, more than on any other individual of his generation. If somebody thought that this would end after his death, he was mistaken. The article, signed by Avi Isasharof and Amos Harel, is a continuation of this smear campaign.

The key word is, of course, “Aids”. Throughout the long article there is no trace of proof. The reporters quote “sources in the Israeli security establishment”. They also quote Israeli doctors “who heard from French doctors” – quite an original method of medical diagnosis. A respected Israeli professor even found “conclusive” proof: it was not published that Arafat had undergone an Aids test. True, a Tunisian medical team did test him in Ramallah and the result was negative, but who believes Arabs?

Haaretz knows, of course, how to protect itself. Somewhere in the article, far away from the sensational headline, there appear the following nine words: “The possibility that Arafat had Aids is not high”. So Haaretz is alright. In army parlance, its ass is covered. By comparison, the New York Times, which published a similar story on the same day, treated the Aids allegation with contempt.

There is simple proof of the allegation’s spuriousness: if it had the most tenuous basis in fact, the huge propaganda apparatus of the Israeli government and the Jewish establishment throughout the world would have trumpeted it from rooftops, instead of waiting 10 months. But, there is no evidence whatsoever. The writers themselves are compelled to admit that Arafat’s symptoms are completely incompatible with Aids.

So what did he die of?

Since taking part in his tumultuous funeral in Ramallah, I have abstained from giving an opinion on the cause of death. I am not a doctor, and my years as the editor of an investigative news magazine have taught me not to voice allegations, which I am unable to prove in court.

But, since now all dikes have been breached, I am prepared to say what is on my mind: from the first moment, I have been sure that Arafat was poisoned.

Most of the doctors interviewed by Haaretz testified that the symptoms point towards poisoning and are incompatible with any other cause. The report of the French doctors, who treated Arafat during the last two weeks of his life, states that no known cause for his death was discovered. True, the tests did not find poison in his body – but the tests only checked for usual poisons. Many intelligence services in the world have poisons that cannot be detected.

Some years ago, Israeli agents poisoned the Hamas chief Khaled Mash’al with a slight prick, in a main street of Amman. His life was saved only because King Hussein demanded that Israel immediately provide the antidote. (As a further indemnity, Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to release another Hamas chief, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated several years after his return to Gaza more conventionally – by an airborne missile.)

In the absence of symptoms of any known disease, and since there are clear indications of poisoning, the highest probability is that Yasser Arafat was poisoned while having dinner four hours before the first symptoms appeared.

I can testify that the security arrangements around the Ra’is were very lax. I was amazed at the ease with which a potential assassin could have carried out his job. Protection was always casual. He often had his meals in the company of strangers, he embraced his visitors. Associates report that he frequently accepted sweets from strangers. He also took medicines from visitors, swallowing them on the spot.

After surviving dozens of assassination attempts, and an airplane accident, he had a fatalistic attitude, “it’s all in the hands of Allah”. I think that in his heart of hearts he really believed that Allah would preserve him until the completion of his historic mission.

If he was poisoned – by whom was he poisoned?

Suspicion falls, first, on the Israeli security establishment. Ariel Sharon declared on several occasions that he intended to kill him. The subject came up in cabinet meetings. Twice during the last years my friends and I were so convinced that this was imminent, that we served as a “human shield”. We were convinced that the murder of Arafat would harm Israel. In one of his interviews, Sharon stated that our presence there had prevented his liquidation.

The truth is that Sharon abstained from killing Arafat because the Americans forbade it. They were afraid that the murder would arouse a huge storm in the Arab world, increasing anti-American terrorism. But this interdiction may have applied only to an overt act.

The Mash’al affair proves that the Israeli intelligence services can poison people without leaving any trace. However, a probability, high as it may be, is not proof. At the moment, there is no proof that Arafat was indeed poisoned by Israeli services.

But if not the Israelis, who? The US intelligence services also have the necessary capabilities. President George Bush never hid his hatred for Arafat, an obstinate leader who did not submit to the former’s dictates. He was quick to embrace Mahmoud Abbas.

But American interests, too, do not constitute proof. One can think of several other suspects, even in the Arab world.

Did Arafat’s death benefit Sharon?

On the face of it, no. As long as Arafat was alive, American support for Israel was unlimited. But since his death, President Bush has gone out of his way to support his successor. The dismal American debacle in Iraq compels Bush to look for achievements elsewhere in the “Broader Middle East”. He presents Mahmoud Abbas as a symbol of the new winds blowing through the Arab and Muslim world as a result of American policy. In order to convince the Palestinian public to support Abbas, Bush is putting pressure on Sharon. Perhaps Sharon is secretly longing for the good old days of Arafat, when life was simple.

But a person who wants – as Sharon surely does – to break the Palestinian people and prevent the establishment of a state of Palestine; will settle for the demise of Arafat, who united the entire Palestinian people. He had the moral authority to impose order, and he enforced it by empathy and force, human wisdom and tricks, threats and seduction.

There are many people in Israel who hoped that without him the Palestinian society would break apart, that anarchy would destroy its very foundations, that armed factions would kill each other and the national leadership. They are certainly glad that Arafat is dead and pray for Mahmoud Abbas’s failure.

Arafat assured me once that we would both see peace in our lifetime. He was prevented from seeing the day. He who caused this has sinned not only against the Palestinian people, but also against peace, and therefore against Israel.

Uri Avnery is an Israeli peace activist who has advocated the setting up of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. He served three terms in the Israeli parliament (Knesset), and is the founder of Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc)
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...3-9-2005_pg3_4

A curious article indeed.

It has been widely touted that he was poisoned, but is it true? If so, does anyone have links with greater details?

Can anybody give details about this Gush Shalom party and its agenda and its iinfluence in Israel?

It is the first time I am hearing of this party.