[Imc-cyprus] anniversary of arafat death

[Terrysmitton at aol.com]

Arafat's Death Still a  Mystery
Interview: Yasser Arafat's  primary physician 
Dr. Ashraf Al Kurdi 
Amman, Jordan  
January 18, 2005
 
Q:  The US press has insinuated that Yasser Arafat was a homosexual  who died 
of AIDS. Are you aware of this? 
 
A:  I heard rumors he died of AIDS, but not rumors that he was a  homosexual. 
I have done the HIV tests many times before on Arafat as a routine  test. It 
was never positive. 
 
Q:  When was the last time you did a test? 
 
A:  About six months before he died. The Tunisian doctors told me they  did 
this test in Ramallah and it was normal. 
 
Q:  Did Arafat have any longstanding health problems? 
 
A:  No, apart from the benign, nonessential tremor which manifests as  a 
tremor in the lips and hands. He never had anything else. 
 
Q:  Did he have Parkinson's Disease? 
 
A:  Actually, this was investigated many times. No. It was the tremor  only. 
He was tested many times for Parkinsons. 
 
Q:  How long have you been Arafat's primary physician? 
 
A:  More than 25 years. 
 
Q:  You treated him after the plane crash in Libya? 
 
A:  Yes. We saved his life from bilateral subdural hematoma. This  produced 
changes in his mental state and his physical appearance. He developed  
hemoplegia and when we caught it he was operated on in Amman. 
 
Q:  Could this cause any later medical condition? 
 
A:  No complications whatsoever. The operation went very smooth and  was done 
by an ordinary neurosurgeon. 
 
Q:  Before you saw him the last time, had he had regular checkups? 
 
A:  Yes, of course. 
 
Q:  Arafat complained of stomach pain, could this indicate something? 
 
A:  No. He had abdominal pain from time to time, but not constant. A  
gastrointestinal gastroscopy showed a mild irritation. 
 
Q:  In the year prior to his death, how often had you seen him? 
 
A:   I was called on the sixteenth day after his illness, and  when I went 
there I saw a group of Tunisian doctors sent by his wife to Ramallah  without 
calling me. These people never had any idea about Arafat's health- never  saw 
Arafat before. I saw four Egyptian doctors and three Palestinian doctors.  After 
I went to Ramallah with my group, I went straight to see him. There were  
signs of poisoning, manifested by a reddish patch on his face and a metallic,  
yellow color to his skin. 
 
Q:  Did any of these other doctors ask you about his medical history?  Have 
you heard from them since? 
 
A:  No, they didn't consult me. Nobody talked to me and none of them  knew 
his health before; except one of the Egyptians. 
 
Q:  Have you been contacted since for your opinion? 
 
A:  No. No there were strict instructions not to contact me by his  wife, 
according to Palestinian Authority leaders. 
 
Q:  How many checkups did he get in the year before his death? 
 
A:  Three times. 
 
Q:  Was he in good health? 
 
A:  Yes, he was perfectly healthy. But I must stress that I was called  
officially on the sixteenth day of his illness, not at the beginning, so we  can't 
know exactly when it started. This is a very important point. I told Suha  
Arafat that by sending the Tunisian doctors, you delayed treatment on your  
husband. A gap of five or six days. 
 
Q:  Did you ask the P.A. leaders about this long delay? 
 
A:  There was no good answer- no one dared to say anything. I was told  that 
Suha refused me access. Why, i don't know. When I saw him, I decided he  must 
go abroad because there were tests he needed that couldn't be done in  
Ramallah. There was contact with the French and their response was immediate.  They 
sent a plane and the Jordanians sent two helicopters to take him to Amman.  
Nobody offered me to go with him to Paris, and whenever I asked after him, I  
never got a satisfactory reply. Again, because of one person, probably his wife. 
 
Q:  What was his appearance the last time you saw him alive? 
 
A:  He lost half of his body weight. He had this reddish spot covering  his 
face, and his coloring was metallic yellow. He was conscious, talking and  
joking, even. His cognitive functions were perfect. After that I asked all the  
doctors to meet. We concluded he had platelet deficiency. Some of the causes for 
 this were not clear, so I asked he be transferred to Paris as soon as 
possible.  But even the French doctors didn't ask me for his previous history. 
 
Q:  Did Arafat know he was dying? 
 
A:  Yes. Yes, actually I heard from him in Ramallah, that he thought  he'd 
been poisoned. 
 
Q:  Did he say who or why or how? 
 
A:  No. 
 
Q:  Last September 25th, 2003, there was an illness that some P.A.  leaders 
in the Muqata said marked the start of his physical decline. What do you  
think? 
 
A:  I don't think so, because I went with a team to Ramallah from  Jordan to 
investigate all known types of poisons. We took blood samples and  there were 
no poisons, or HIV infection. 
 
Q:  According to Islamic law, when the cause of death is questionable,  an 
autopsy is required? 
 
A:  That is absolutely true. I requested four things: a committee to  
investigate his health and the progression of his illness. I wanted all results  of 
the Paris tests and to see the French doctors. I asked for cause of death and  
if it was not identified to perform an autopsy. 
 
Q:  Considering that Yasser Arafat was a major world figure for half a  
century, shouldn't an autopsy have been demanded? Why was it denied? Who denied  
it? 
 
A:  All of them. All the leadership, those with him in Paris and  Chairman 
Mahmoud Abbas. He said there is no need, he is already buried. I said  "its not 
up to you." 
 
Q:  Did you feel Abbas made the decision alone or it was  a committee 
decision? 
 
A:  I don't know. 
 
Q:  When you said publicly you thought he'd been poisoned, did you get  
threats? 
 
A:  No the P.A. said I should communicate this to them, which I had  done 
from the first. 
 
Q:  Some news accounts said the French government would be upset by an  
autopsy? 
 
A:  This is very stupid, I don't think this would upset them. If  someone 
dies of unknown causes, it is mandatory to have an autopsy- mandatory!  They know 
the regulations. Here in Jordan, bodies have been exhumed many times  in 
criminal cases. 
 
Q:  Is there a time limit to exhuming a body to trace forensic causes? 
 
A:  It depends on the agents used. I suspect Arafat died of a "killing  
poison", a catalyst. The death was due to this. 
 
 
Interview: Palestine Foreign Minister Nasser Al Kidwa 
 
Sept 16, 2005
by Trish Schuh
 
UNITED NATIONS, New York - At the United Nations 60th Anniversary  World 
Summit, Palestine Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nasser Al  Kidwa, addressed the 
UN General Assembly on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas  and the Palestinian 
people.  He appealed for international support to  end the Israeli Occupation 
and for final status recognition  of a Palestinian State.  
 
Referring to his uncle, former President Yasser Arafat, he said; "It is for  
this noble cause that the late leader stood before you for the first time in  
1974 and delivered his historic speech for the sake of peace and security in 
the  region."  As the first anniversary of Yasser Arafat's passing  nears, I 
later asked Al Kidwa some questions about his  death.
 
Q:  There has been controversy over the French medical report about  Yasser 
Arafat's cause of death.  After viewing the medical charts, you said  you 
thought Arafat was poisoned.  But it seems now you have  changed your opinion.  
Could you explain?
 
A:  I have never said I thought this.  I said there are serious  question 
marks because of the fact that doctors at the hospital- a very good  hospital- 
did not reach any conclusion on the diagnosis of the illness.   This remains the 
case.  There was some junk in one Israeli paper that  asserted something.  
Strangely enough, The New York Times asserted the  exact opposite the same day- 
which suggests that all of this is complete  buloney.  What we said 
originally- what the French doctors said originally  is precisely accurate.  There is no 
diagnosis.  All three  possibilities were looked at in the cause of low blood 
platelets.   
 
You can not but have a big question mark as to the possibility of  poison.  
That's what we said and we maintain this position.  Are we  going to have 
proof?  No.  Given our severe limitations, technically  and politically, we know we 
are not going to reach any final conclusion  now.  That's why we said the 
file has to remain open and the Palestinian  people have the right to know the 
reality.  I said I am confident the  reality will be known in the not too far 
future.
 
Q:  Arafat's longtime physician, Dr. Ashraf Al Kurdi said in Amman he  wanted 
an autopsy to be done, but it was forbidden.  Why?  Would the  body ever be 
exhumed to solve the mystery?
 
A:  No.  And this is not a new position.  We said this for  two reasons.  
One, because of the social and religious reasons when dealing  with a great man 
of this kind.  This is not something that Muslims would  allow.
 
Q:  Al Kurdi claimed otherwise.  That Arafat's historical  significance 
mandates the matter be resolved for posterity.
 
A:  He can claim what he wants to claim.  I am telling my  position.  This is 
the first reason.  The second reason is the  limitation in our ability to 
know.  You take an autopsy and do what?   Send it to America so you can know the 
truth?  
 
Q:  So Palestinians can know the truth.  Would you consider  an independent, 
legitimate international team of doctors to do a full  investigation to quell 
what could otherwise be endless speculation?  
 
A:  You know this whole thing is really big...  Anyone who  understands 
politics, understands the limitations of this... The only thing we  can do is keep 
the file open and maintain the facts as they are now without  permitting 
anyone to destroy those facts as some people have been trying to do-  in a very 
lousy way, I might say, and without any credibility.
 
Q:  Have you suggested that there could be poisons used that are  
undetectable? 
 
A:  Oh yes, sure.  It all depends on your capability.  Yeah,  sure.
 
Q:  So what of the recent article on this subject in The New York  Times?
 
A:  There was nothing new in their report- no new facts  published.  It was 
just total nonsense- nonfacts with no credibility  whatsoever.
 
Q:  And the account in the Israeli Haaretz?
 
A:  It wasn't serious- more nonsense.  Nothing mentioned  there was serious.  
It's as simple as that.
 
New York Times reporters Lawrence Altman and Steven  Erlanger recently 
published an article after analyzing Arafat's  medical records. Haaretz author Avi 
Isacharoff authored "The  Seventh War: How We Won and Why We Lost the War With 
the Palestinians" dealing  with Arafat's death. After contacting each of these 
reporters, I was told that  results are still inconclusive. Also unclear is 
why Arafat's doctor-  who first raised the issue- was not consulted.  Since 
Israel was accused of  poisoning him- why was investigation done by Israeli 
allied  investigators?



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