RAMALLAH: On Tuesday morning the excavation of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat began in Ramallah. A team of specialists seeks to investigate the possibility of murder by poisoning In July, Al-Jazeera reported that a nine month investigation at the Institution of Radiation Physics at the University of Laussane in Switzerland found abnormally high quantities of polonium on his personal belongings. In response, Palestinians have called for an investigation into the possibility that he was poisoned. Swiss, French, and Russian investigative teams are set to arrive later this month, each to conduct their own investigations and testing samples of his remains. As the Second Palestinian Intifada waned on, the 75-year-old Arafat was initially misdiagnosed with the flu in late October 2004. However, his health continued to decline. After being visited by doctors from across the Arab region, he was eventually flown to France for further treatment. His condition rapidly worsened, until he fell into a coma on November 3. On November 11th, Arafat was pronounced dead by a French medical team. The official cause was deemed a massive hemorrhagic cerebrovascular accident. Until now, Arafat's legacy remains subjected to extremely polarized narratives. Many Jewish Israelis view him as an unashamed terrorist and hold him personally responsible for the violence of the Second Intifada. “Everything he stood for was disgusting," Greg, a history student at Tel Aviv University, told BikyaMasr.com. However, Palestinian-American historian Rashid Khalidi notes that “most of [the violence] was perpetrated by his most deadly political rivals in Hamas and Islamic Jihad." Other critics accuse Arafat of financial corruption, noting that his lavish lifestyle was financed by foreign donors while refugees toiled in miserable conditions in UN camps just a few kilometers from his office. Nonetheless, most Palestinians view him as the first defendant of their cause and a symbol of their long struggle for independence and self-determination. “He was the father of Palestinians," said Fadi, a recent graduate. “He was the first true leader of all Palestinians, and he alone deserves that title. Our leaders today aren't the same, aren't as good," he added, alluding to President Mahmoud Abbas and his rival party Hamas, presently ruling in the Gaza Strip. Paintings, pictures, and posters of Arafat still line the walls of cities, villages, and refugee camps across the West Bank. On the separation wall near the Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, an immense painting of a keffiyeh-cloaked Arafat stretches from the bottom of the wall to the very top. Even many Palestinians who are not members or supporters of the late Arafat's Fatah party reflect on him warmly. “Abu Ammar [Arafat] was a respectful leader of the Palestinian people," began Ghadeer, a 26-year-old from a village outside of Ramallah. “Regardless of whether we disagree strongly about some of his choices, we all look up to him and deeply respect him. He sacrificed almost every moment of his life for our cause—he was more than a leader; he was the father of each and every Palestinian." Swiss, French, and Russian teams are all reported to conduct their own studies of Arafat's remains. Ma'an News Agency reports that another French legal team has arrived in Ramallah in order to question the people who surrounded Arafat around the time he first became ill. Arafat's tomb has been closed to the public for several weeks in preparation for the exhumation. His remains are expected to be reburied with full military honors after the operation is completed, said Ma'an.
