How did Arafat die? Sherine Bahaa reports on the mystery surrounding the Palestinian leader's demise Throughout his tumultuous career, Yasser Arafat courted death more than once. He escaped car and plane crashes, bomb blasts and bullets. Every time he would bounce back, reiterating his celebrated vow to continue the struggle until his dream came true. This time was different. He smiled to the cameras before leaving his headquarters in Ramallah for medical treatment in Paris, but his promise on 29 October that he would return proved only half true; he did come back, but only to be buried. It is not only Arafat's death that made news, but how he died. There is as yet no official statement on the reasons for his death. The five-line statement by the French military hospital issued in the early hours of last Thursday morning announcing he had died made no mention of the cause. This statement was significant, because its silence violated a French law that stipulates that no death certificate may be issued without stating the cause of death. Instead, a hospital spokesman spoke of confidentiality and deference to wishes of the family of the Palestinian leader. For his part, France's foreign minister indicated on Tuesday that his country has no intention of publishing Yasser Arafat's medical records and will leave the decision about what to do with them up to his family. Michel Barnier's comment came shortly after Palestinian Prime Miniser Ahmed Qorei said that he had formally requested that France publish Arafat's medical records. "The medical file of Yasser Arafat will be transmitted, conforming to the law and to rules, to members of the immediate family who ask for it," Bernier told Europe-1 radio. Asked if Paris would suggest to Arafat's wife, Suha, that she make the medical report public, Barnier replied: "The family of Yasser Arafat has the right to do as it wishes." His hands and lower lip constantly trembling, Arafat had been surrounded by rumours of ill health for years, including claims that he was suffering from Parkinson's disease. His condition started to deteriorate last month when he was suddenly afflicted with stomach pains. He vomited frequently and had serious diarrhea. Tests showed a rapid decline in blood platelets. However, initial investigations ruled out leukaemia and other obvious life-threatening illnesses. To date, all further details have been withheld at the request of Arafat's wife, Soha, leaving ample room for rumours and conjecture. "Arafat is not an ordinary man whose death is the responsibility of his family alone," Dr Ashraf Al-Kurdi, who had been Arafat's personal physician for more than two decades, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The whole world has the right to know what happened." In a telephone interview, Dr Al-Kurdi stressed two central issues which needed to be address. "First, they must issue a medical report determining the actual time of death and when it was announced. Secondly, I must demand an official inquiry, and if the French fail to provide a medical report, then an autopsy will be required." "The announcement was made on Thursday at 4.30am, however, the actual death could have been days earlier," Al-Kurdi claimed. "They owe it to his people to announce what happened." Al-Kurdi said one Palestinian who travelled to Paris to see Arafat told him on their way back to Ramallah that he had died some time ago. Some Palestinians hold Israel responsible for Arafat's death, whether indirectly by keeping him confined in his battered Ramallah compound, or directly by poisoning. For many Palestinians, the latter appears the most likely scenario. Khaled Meshaal, a Hamas politburo member who himself was a victim of poisoning by Mossad agents in Jordan in 1997, has said he is sure that Israel poisoned Arafat. Al-Kurdi said he believed a plot was being hatched even before Arafat died. "His comrades used to contact him whenever he felt sick, but this time they ignored him completely until news spread that he was suffering from something serious." Al-Kurdi was prevented from travelling with Arafat to Paris, and when he sought to travel after the leader's condition deteriorated, Soha refused to allow him access. Arafat's wife has imposed an almost total blackout on her husband's medical condition during and after his final illness. Arafat claimed to have survived 40 assassination attempts in the course of his life. He narrowly escaped an Israeli air strike on his headquarters in Tunisia in 1985. He had just gone out jogging when the bombers swooped, killing 73 people. Then there was his dramatic escape from a plane crash in the Libyan desert in 1992. The crew were all killed when the aircraft came down in a sandstorm. He was the only survivor. Ten years later, Arafat's guards rushed him to safety in a bunker just before Israeli helicopters bombarded his compound in Ramallah with rockets.
