The Russians have yet to publish their report. Ditto the French.

I thought the article said the Russians already had published it. And I didn't think the French were doing a report.

Per the article.

"Samples also analysed by Palestinian, French and Russian teams, whose findings have yet to be published by the Palestinian Authority"

It's quite a jump to go from finding elevated levels of polonium in Arafat's corpse to proof the Mossad poisoned him.

At any rate, I gotta think if Israel were going to poison him they would have done it in 1984 rather than 2004.

Israel tried to assassinate him in the 1980s, so it's not as if this possibility is out of the question. In 2004 he was defiantly resisting the siege in Ramallah and generally a catalyst for the intifada which had become quite explosive. They had every motivation to get rid of him, and I remember people like Dershowitz openly celebrating his death.

I missed the part about the French

And per the article

"The head of the Palestinian investigation team, Tawfiq Tirawi, confirmed on Tuesday that the Russian and Swiss reports had been delivered. The Palestinian team is reported to have handed over its findings on Saturday."

Combine that with what the head of the Russian agency said and it's pretty clear that the Russians didn't find anything.

Still, high levels of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope.....one with a half-life of 4 and a half months (3 half lives a year, 9 years, 27 half-lives, equals 1/134217728th of whatever dose he was given) mean almost nothing. If they wanted to test it they should've done it right away.

What does Dershowitz's opinion have to do with whether the Mossad killed Arafat?

I read an article on this earlier today that said the only independent team was the French one. The Swiss one was paid for by Arafat's widow and the Russian one by the PA or PLO or whatever. You'll forgive me for being skeptical of even the existence of the polonium until that one comes out.

If they all agree, and that's not a sure thing since apparently the Russians will say there's no polonium, then all we have is evidence that there was possibly a poisoning, not proof the Mossad did it.

Naturally but you can't find fault for not immediately exhuming the body. Swiss scientists found polonium on his belongings and then there was a move to exhume.

He was under Israeli house arrest. Who else would poison him?

I'm wondering whether an autopsy was performed. Isn't this something they would have found evidence of then?

And I'm not saying that they should have done it right away. Just....maybe in 2006 instead of 2012

"He was under Israeli house arrest. Who else would poison him?"

Maybe Abbas was tired of waiting. Maybe Hamas was making a secret power play. And, keep in mind, maybe he wasn't poisoned at all.

Those theories are positively Tolstoyesq.

You asked who else. And the "not poisoned" theory may very well be true. We've only got the least credible test result so far.

"What does Dershowitz's opinion have to do with whether the Mossad killed Arafat?
"

Dershowitz is a weathervane for the opinion of the IDF and Mossad. If you read The Case for Israel he cites them throughout his work when he's trying to prove that Israel is wonderful on the question of human rights. If one of the leading defenders of Israel is overjoyed by Arafat's death and claims that real peace negotiations can commence now that he's gone then that should be somewhat of a reflection of the attitude of Israeli higher-ups.

I don't get why you're so skeptical of the possibility of an Israeli assassination. You act like Israel never assassinates Palestinian leaders. I'm not saying this is conclusive proof, but it's not nothing either.

Ha. Putin and his conspiracy theories. That's about as likely as the French being behind the assassination of a Greenpeace crew!

"Dershowitz is a weathervane for the opinion of the IDF and Mossad."

Dershowitz is an American law professor and public intellectual. That he happens to think the death of Arafat was a good thing is not at all proof that the Mossad assassinated him. You call me Tolstoyesque?


"I don't get why you're so skeptical of the possibility of an Israeli assassination. You act like Israel never assassinates Palestinian leaders. I'm not saying this is conclusive proof, but it's not nothing either."

I'm skeptical because there's no proof and it doesn't make a lot of sense for them to kill Arafat, especially after Oslo neutered him. Add in the fact that the only test results to even make us suspect poisoning come from the team paid for by Arafat's widow and leaks from the Russian test say they found nothing and, well, I think I have pretty good grounds to be skeptical. Obviously the Mossad totally COULD have killed Arafat, but so far that claim is little more than speculation.

A public intellectual who spends a lot of time writing books on behalf of the Israeli state and has plenty of friends among the Israeli political class.

"I'm skeptical because there's no proof and it doesn't make a lot of sense for them to kill Arafat, especially after Oslo neutered him. "

It made much less sense for Syria to chemically attack civilians and thus precipitate an intervention, yet you have no problem believing Assad gassed people. Arafat was not "neutered" from 2000-2004. There was a full blown rebellion going on. I remember this quite well as I was obsessed with the issue at the time. Considering the rebellion died shortly after his death I'd say it made plenty of sense for Israel to get rid of him.

"A public intellectual who spends a lot of time writing books on behalf of the Israeli state and has plenty of friends among the Israeli political class."

Again, so what? He's obviously not in Tel Aviv making policy proposals. Connecting Dershowitz's belief that Arafat dying was a good thing with the Mossad assassinating Arafat makes absolutely no sense. I know you don't think this way at all, but it's the sort of argument a person who believes in an international Jewish conspiracy would make. Dershowitz is an American. He's a powerful man here as a result of his intellectual achievements, but he's not connected at all with the decisions on the Israeli government on whether or not to kill Arafat.


"Arafat was not "neutered" from 2000-2004. There was a full blown rebellion going on... Considering the rebellion died shortly after his death I'd say it made plenty of sense for Israel to get rid of him."

The rebellion was not under his control. To the extent the PLO had any control over the Second Intifada it was used as a way to put themselves in a better position with regards to the peace process. Oslo meant Arafat gave up his goal of replacing Israel with a Palestine under his rule, and the PA which he ran was and is a near-puppet of Israel. He was no longer a threat in the post-Oslo state of affairs, and killing him in the midst of a popular uprising without there being a clear succession plan (Arafat and Abbas were slight rivals) doesn't sound like something that would be in Israel's interests.

So yeah, I'm skeptical the Mossad killed Arafat. I'm skeptical there's even polonium as claimed. Let's see what the Russians and French say.

I can't believe you are talking about this after so many years.
i am sure the mosad poisoned him,and it was a great job!
Finally after so many attempts,the man was hard to kill.

Weren't you guys pissed when Ze'evi was offed?

Weren't you not?