Palestinian prime minster Ahmed Qorei has asked France to provide him with a medical report detailing the cause of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s death, his office said.
“We officially demand that the Palestinian leadership be informed about the medical report on the death of the president and the reason for his death,” Qorei’s office said in a statement.
Arafat died in a French military hospital last Thursday at the age of 75 after sinking into a coma, but no information has been released about the exact cause of death.
The veteran Palestinian leader was admitted to a French hospital on October 29 with a “blood disorder” and the lack of any clear explanation has sparked speculation that he was poisoned by Israeli agents.
His personal physician Ashraf al-Kurdi is among those who have called for an investigation into the death.
“I demand an official inquiry and an autopsy… so the Palestinian people can learn in all transparency what caused the death,” he said, although Islam forbids autopsies out of respect for the sanctity of the dead.
He said his suspicions were aroused by the absence of any information about Arafat’s health after he was admitted to hospital given that he had been conscious when he left his Ramallah compound.
The French have said that under their laws, Arafat’s medical files can only be handed over to family members. So, what is Suha Arafat waiting for?
From the rumour mill:
I can’t remember where I read this but there is a rumour going around that Suha has been having a thingy with some Christian Phalangist from Lebanon. People fall in love sometimes with the darndest darlings, and I’m not here to rationalize amour fou. But I wonder what the implications of such a liason (if true) might be.
I still can’t believe the AIDS theory. I believe AIDS attacks the white platelets, not the red platelets. I think this one came out of someone’s wishful thinking from their over-heated imagination.
We may never find out for sure, if Suha feels resentful that she was left out of the power loop, maybe out of revenge. Or maybe she feels empowered by having this special information which she feels powerful about by not giving it to anyone else, especially male.
I don’t think they can force her; I don’t see how. Unless, maybe, they start some legal action against her but where? If it’s in the French legal system, it could drag on for years.
Update:
Drudge now reporting on a JPost story that he had liver cirosis (sp?). That might mean some form of hepatitis. There are several kinds of hepatitis. I don’t know much about it, but I once met a guy who thought he got it from eating bad shellfish. I seem to recall that I once read a story that did connect hepatitis to AIDS via some vaccine shots. He was 75 years old– anything could have broken down at that age. I’m still not expecting a full disclosure; with the Middle East I’ve become used to reading between the lines.