Tests find poison in Arafat's body

Swiss scientists say levels of polonium-210 measured in the personal effects and body tissues of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "moderately" support a proposition that he died of polonium poisoning, CNN reported.

The findings released by the University Center of Legal Medicine of Lausanne -- first reported Wednesday by Al Jazeera -- do not address how Arafat, who died in 2004 at age 75, might have been poisoned or who might have done it.

The report comes a year after Arafat's widow, suspecting he was poisoned, had the body exhumed for tests after the radioactive isotope polonium-210 was found on some of his personal belongings in 2012.

The Swiss center said it identified "significant quantities" of polonium in biological stains on those belongings. Some polonium also was found in samples of remains taken during last year's exhumation, it said.

The scientists' findings may renew controversial allegations over how Arafat -- the most prominent face of Palestinian opposition to Israel for five decades -- died. The Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, has said Israel would have been behind any poisoning of Arafat, who was regarded by many Palestinians as a father figure.

"I believe that all fingers are pointed at the Israeli occupation ... who have experience in such cases of poisoning," said Wasel Abu Yousef, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Yousef called for a "criminal international committee" to be formed to investigate the report.