Israel denies role in Arafat's death as probe starts
Source: Agencies |
August 30, 2012, Thursday
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A former Israeli official yesterday denied suspicions that Israel poisoned Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as France prepared to begin an investigation into his possible murder following a Swiss lab's claim that it found traces of a deadly substance on his belongings.
Dov Weisglass, chief of staff to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the time of Arafat's death in 2004 and a key participant in deliberations surrounding Arafat's worsening health, said Israel had no reason to physically harm the Palestinian leader. For the last two years of Arafat's life, Israel confined him to his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, accusing him of encouraging a violent Palestinian uprising.
"Israel did not have any hand in this," Weisglass told Israel's Army Radio station yesterday, even while calling Arafat "one of Israel's worst enemies."
"We did not physically hurt him when Arafat was in his prime ... so all the more so we had no interest in this kind of activity when he was politically sidelined," he said.
Weisglass said at the time, then-Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia called to say Arafat needed immediate medical attention at a Ramallah hospital. Would Israel allow him to leave his compound? Weisglass said he called Sharon at his home and he immediately approved the request.
Arafat, 75, died about two weeks later on November 11, 2004, in a French military hospital outside Paris of what doctors called a massive stroke.
Arafat's widow, Suha, filed a legal complaint in France - where she is a citizen - after a Swiss institute detected traces of a rare, lethal substance on objects belonging to the Palestinian leader. On Tuesday, Mrs Arafat's lawyer said French authorities agreed to launch a murder investigation.
Israeli Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon, who was the army's chief of staff when Arafat died, also denied involvement. "It sounds to me like Arabian tales from One Thousand and One Nights," Yaalon said.
Dov Weisglass, chief of staff to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the time of Arafat's death in 2004 and a key participant in deliberations surrounding Arafat's worsening health, said Israel had no reason to physically harm the Palestinian leader. For the last two years of Arafat's life, Israel confined him to his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, accusing him of encouraging a violent Palestinian uprising.
"Israel did not have any hand in this," Weisglass told Israel's Army Radio station yesterday, even while calling Arafat "one of Israel's worst enemies."
"We did not physically hurt him when Arafat was in his prime ... so all the more so we had no interest in this kind of activity when he was politically sidelined," he said.
Weisglass said at the time, then-Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia called to say Arafat needed immediate medical attention at a Ramallah hospital. Would Israel allow him to leave his compound? Weisglass said he called Sharon at his home and he immediately approved the request.
Arafat, 75, died about two weeks later on November 11, 2004, in a French military hospital outside Paris of what doctors called a massive stroke.
Arafat's widow, Suha, filed a legal complaint in France - where she is a citizen - after a Swiss institute detected traces of a rare, lethal substance on objects belonging to the Palestinian leader. On Tuesday, Mrs Arafat's lawyer said French authorities agreed to launch a murder investigation.
Israeli Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon, who was the army's chief of staff when Arafat died, also denied involvement. "It sounds to me like Arabian tales from One Thousand and One Nights," Yaalon said.
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