NABLUS, 22 November 2004 — More than 80 percent of Palestinians believe that veteran leader Yasser Arafat died as a result of poisoning and not from natural causes, a poll published yesterday revealed.
Since Arafat died in a Paris hospital on Nov. 11, the Arab world has been abuzz with rumors that he fell foul of an assassination plot, aggravated by no public declaration about his cause of death.
Asked whether they believed the rumors were true, 80.3 percent of respondents said “yes”, with 93 percent saying his medical report should be made public.
Under French confidentiality law only Arafat’s widow Suha has so far been permitted to see his medical file — a fact that has caused intense frustration among the Palestinian leadership and general public.
On Friday lawyers for Suha said that she had been given her husband’s medical file and had left for her second home in Tunisia.
However, in a bid to end the uncertainty, Arafat’s nephew Nasser Al-Qidwa, a senior Palestinian official, arrived in Paris yesterday to collect a copy of the file.
French Defense Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau said early Saturday that Qidwa, had the right to access to the information if he requested it.
But Suha’s Paris lawyers have maintained the dossier should only be given to “the children and the widow.”
The survey also revealed a worrying lack of faith in the current leadership, with 56.6 percent of respondents saying they did not believe Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei was capable of performing his duties as premier. Less than half of respondents, 45 percent, thought PLO chief Mahmud Abbas was capable of running the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Asked who they would most likely to vote for in the Jan. 9 presidential election should Israel refuse to release jailed Fatah firebrand Marwan Barghouti — the most popular candidate after the deceased Arafat — only one in four said they would vote for Abbas.
Nearly half, 48.2 percent, said they would decide on the day, while less than half, 47.9 percent, believed the upcoming elections would be fair.
Some 1,360 Palestinians over the age of 18 were interviewed for the survey by the Al-Najjah University in the northern West Bank town of Nablus. The poll has a margin of error of three percent.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian fighter was shot dead by Israeli soldiers yesterday in the central Gaza Strip near the Kissufim trade checkpoint, the Israeli military said.
Khalil Mohammed Shahata, 20, was killed after he and another fighter allegedly attacked a car of Jewish settlers with gunfire and a hand grenade, said the armed wings of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Islamic Jihad.
