Yasser Arafat body to be exhumed in November, says French official

Ramallah: A French official says criminal investigators from France will exhume Yasser Arafat’s remains next month to try to find out how the Palestinian leader died. Palestinian authorities confirmed the timetable and said a separate Swiss investigative team would arrive in the West Bank city of Ramallah at the same time. No exact date was disclosed. [caption id=“attachment_508550” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Yasser Arafat.[/caption] All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The push to re-examine circumstances surrounding Arafat’s November 2004 death came after a Swiss lab recently discovered traces of polonium-210, a deadly radioactive isotope, on clothes said to be his. The discovery revived suspicions of poisoning. The immediate cause of Arafat’s death was a stroke, but the underlying source of an illness he suffered in his final weeks has never been clear. AP