Arafat not poisoned, but death remains a mystery

Yasser Arafat ‘s nephew was given the late Palestinian leader’s medical records today and said they give no clear diagnosis for the cause of his death.

Nasser al-Kidwa said they showed that toxicology tests appeared to rule out poisoning.

At a press conference in Paris, al-Kidwa pinned some of the blame for Arafat’s death on his long confinement to his West Bank compound.

“I believe the Israeli authorities are largely responsible for what happened,” he said shortly after taking possession of the medical files from French authorities.

Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, said toxicology tests were conducted but “no poisons known to doctors were found”.

He also said that the files gave no clear diagnosis for the reasons of Arafat’s death on November 11 in a Paris military hospital.