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Hamas wants to know… Who killed Arafat?
The exact circumstances of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's death in a French hospital remain a mystery to many. Hamas has said that it wants to investigate allegations that Israel was involved in a plot to murder Arafat and this will no doubt stir up heated debate behind closed doors worldwide and on Palestinian streets.
AMMAN, Jordan – It goes without saying that Hamas is fully aware that reopening the investigation on the 'murder' of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and ensuring that it is a top priority of the new government will not be condoned by the Israeli occupation force.It is a sensitive issue and when Arafat passed away the Israeli government suffered as Hamas launched more than 100 attacks on Israeli targets in a day. 'Peace' talks seemed to have died with Arafat.Hamas will form its news government in coming weeks and it wants to investigate what Israel would rather avoid. It wants to find out exactly how Arafat died and whether Israeli was in fact in any way involved, as has been alleged in the past. This, no doubt, could reach Palestinian streets and lead to the outbreak of a fourth intifada that would certainly be more forceful that the first three.Khaled Mashaal and other Hamas leaders inside Palestine believe that reopening the investigation on Arafat's death would serve as a political card that might push Israelis to reduce their attacks on Palestinians who are being led by a government whose programme differs from its predecessors. Hamas, of course, believes in the religious dimension of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This investigation could also prevent Israelis from thinking about pursuing an assassination policy against Hamas top officials.
U.S., Israel weakened Arafat
According to the information Fact International obtained from Hamas leaders, the organisation based its plan to reopen the investigation on the fact that the Americans and Israelis decided publicly to strip Arafat of his political powers three years before his death. They also introduced the prime minister post to the Palestinian Authority to reduce Arafat's powers as he refused to offer concessions to the Israelis.Besides, they prepared the drafting of the Abbas-Bellin document to be used as political grounds for the final status negotiations. For the Israelis, that document was something special as it deleted some of the Palestinian rights stated in the final status negotiations, mainly the refugee right of return.On the other hand, Hamas is convinced that Arafat was killed for the same reason Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was assassinated. They also believe the motive behind the killing of Hamas leader Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi was the same. The Israelis wanted to eliminate the Palestinian leaders who planned to ensure that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip was documented in history as a Palestinian victory.
Hamas also believed that Sharon wanted to kill Arafat before the U.S. presidential elections because Arafat was betting on the winning of George W. Bush's opponent John Kerry. Arafat had hoped that Kerry would lift an embargo that the U.S. and Israel had placed on him. At the time, he was isolated and under house arrest within the confines of the Palestinian National Authority headquarters in Ramallah.
Sharon involved in murder
Hamas leaders said that they found it strange that Israeli media started talking about Arafat's death in a manner that showed they were sure of Arafat's illnesses in the past. This was unusual because it was the first time that they had done so. Sharon then hurried to announce that Arafat would not be buried in Jerusalem . This meant only one thing: Those who allegedly poisoned Arafat were sure that he was dying.A few other reasons add weight to the Hamas belief that Arafat was murdered. For the first time two medical teams, one from Tunisia and the other from Egypt , were flown to an ill Arafat. This rarely happened before. Hamas leaders question why his private doctor Ashraf al-Kurdi from Jordan was not called on until Arafat's health had deteriorated to an extreme level. They also question why Arafat was immediately sent abroad for medication abroad, even though al-Kurdi recommended this.When Sharon approved Arafat's departure from Palestine for medical treatment abroad, with a guarantee ensuring his return, he had already known that Arafat was dying. He was also sure that Arafat would return, otherwise he would not have allowed him to leave Palestine Prior to his deteriorating health conditions Arafat was isolated in his Ramallah office. He spent 34 days with no water and very often without electricity. He spent all this time as a prisoner arrested in his home. According to a statement by the then Israeli deputy defense minister, Israel 's aim was to coerce Arafat to leave the Palestinian areas without returning. When all these Israeli attempts failed a decision was taken to ensure his death.
Jewish doctor implicated
A French doctor of Jewish origin was closely linked to supervising Arafat's medical treatment at the French Persy hospital, according to a news report published by the Israeli Hebrew daily Ma'arev on December 16, 2004. According to the report, the Jewish doctor was an active partner regarding the decision on how to treat Arafat. What is strange is that nobody knew at that time that a Jewish doctor in the hospital's medical team was looking after Arafat's health.On June 5, 2002, Bassam Abu Sharif, a close friend of Arafat and a member of his mainstream Fateh movement sent a letter to Arafat informing him that there were two options discussed by the Israeli cabinet. They planned either to oust or poison him. The letter cautioned Arafat to watch his back as one of the options included a large-scale military operation across the Palestinian territories which might have included ousting Arafat.Abu Sharif's letter warned Arafat "not to drink anything except from a bottle you open with your hand. Don't eat anything these days except from… yourself"."I've got information from well-trusted sources in Washington that there are attempts to poison you," wrote Abu Sharif.Israel has a well-known history of using poison as tool to kill. Iraqi daily newspaper Al Sabah reported on February13, 2005, that military censorship in Israel bans publishing information about the Zionist state's poison programme and any plans to poison Israel's opponents.In fact, poison was used by Israelis even before the Jewish state was formed. Aba Cooper, a Jewish poet of German origin, plotted with his colleagues to poison water supplies in a number of German cities to avenge the holocaust. As a result, 600 Germans were killed.The Vaitsman Institute, an affiliate of the Israeli occupation forces, is a huge workshop to develop Israel's poison programme under the supervision of the Israeli defense ministry and Mossad. Israeli is known to have scientific centres that produce toxic substances and draw up plans to kill Israel's enemies. These centres are directly linked with the prime minister's office as well as the health ministry.
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