Palestinians to petition ICC if Arafat poisoning proved

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian leadership is to petition the International Criminal Court in The Hague if it finds proof that the late Yasser Arafat was poisoned, an official said yesterday.
“If it is proved that Arafat was poisoned, we will go to the international court,” said Tawfiq Tirawi, head of the Palestinian commission investigating Arafat’s death, referring to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
His remarks were made at a press conference, which took place several hours after the veteran leader’s remains were exhumed for testing by a team of international experts.
“We will wait for the results of the investigation,” he said. “We are not accusing anyone so far but regardless of the result, we will continue looking for the truth” about how he died.
Arafat died at a French military hospital near Paris in November 2004, with experts unable to say what killed him, although many Palestinians believe he was poisoned by Israel.
Forensic experts yesterday took samples from his remains to examine them for traces of polonium after an investigation earlier this year found abnormal quantities of the radioactive substance on his personal effects.
The results are not expected to be made public for several months.
The ICC can only open an investigation if it is asked to do so by the UN Security Council or by a recognized state.
Although the Palestinians do not have full UN membership, President Mahmoud Abbas will on Thursday present a formal request for upgraded status, which would raise its rank from that of an observer entity to an observer state.
Such a move could allow them to join many UN organizations or international treaties, such as the ICC or the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians.
The resolution is expected to easily pass in the 193-nation General Assembly after which the Palestinians would have to apply to become party to the Rome Statute, and only then could they be permitted to petition the ICC.
“This would be the first case for Palestine after getting international recognition as a (UN) non-member state,” Tirawi said.
The exhumation began before dawn yesterday, under the cover of huge sheets of blue tarpaulin draped over Arafat’s mausoleum in his former government compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah. By mid-morning, the grave was reclosed, and officials from Arafat’s Fatah movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization laid wreaths at the mausoleum.
Palestinians had launched an investigation after Arafat’s death, but made no progress. The probe was revived this summer when a Swiss lab detected elevated traces of a lethal radioactive substance, polonium-210, in biological stains on his clothing.
The lab said the tests were inconclusive and that it needed to examine the remains for a clearer picture.
Arafat’s successor, Mahmoud Abbas, authorized the exhumation despite strong cultural and religious taboos against disturbing a gravesite, apparently to avoid any suggestion that he was standing in the way of a thorough investigation.
Abbas was absent during yesterday’s proceedings, instead heading to the United Nations to seek a General Assembly acceptance of Palestine as a non-member observer state. Abbas has said the request, strongly opposed by the US and Israel, is meant to strengthen his leverage with Israel.
In Ramallah, workers have been drilling through thick layers of concrete encasing the tomb since mid- November. A Palestinian official initially said some of the remains were moved to a nearby mosque. However, Palestinian Health Minister Hani Abdeen later said samples were taken without having to move the remains to another location.
The exhumation was attended by experts from Switzerland, France and Russia who will examine the samples in their home countries, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the exhumation. Earlier, samples were also taken from Arafat’s bedroom, office and personal belongings, he said.
Dr. Abdullah Bashir, a member of the Palestinian investigative team, said it would take at least three months for results to come back.
Public reaction in the West Bank was mixed.
Nidaa Younes, a Palestinian government employee, said it was unnecessary to dig up the remains. “Our religion forbids exhuming graves. It is not nice at all to do this, even if religion permits it in some cases,” she said, adding that she believes Israel was responsible for Arafat’s death.
Ramallah resident Tony Abdo said he supports the exhumation, expecting it to prove that Arafat did not die a natural death.
Suspicions about Arafat’s death flared again over the summer, when the Arab satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera took some of Arafat’s belongings, provided by his widow Suha, to a Swiss lab for testing. The belongings included what Mrs. Arafat said were her husband’s fur hat and a woolen cap with some of his hair, a toothbrush, and clothing with his urine and blood stains.
The Institute of Radiation Physics discovered elevated traces of polonium-210, the same substance that killed Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer turned Kremlin critic, in 2006.
Mrs. Arafat urged the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank-based self-rule government headed by Abbas, to exhume her husband’s remains and also asked the French government to launch a separate investigation. Eventually, Abbas also requested that Russia join the probe.
But the exhumation and the testing of the remains might not resolve the mystery. Polonium-210 decomposes rapidly, and some experts say it is not clear whether any remaining samples will be sufficient for testing.