10 Nov 2022; MEMO: A former Palestinian Authority Health Minister has claimed that there has been no real investigation into the 2004 death of late PA President Yasser Arafat. Jawad Al-Tibi made his comments in an interview with Al-Resalah following reports that fourteen cubic metres of concrete were poured into Arafat's tomb in Ramallah.
He was the last Health Minister in the Arafat era and headed the first committee formed to investigate Arafat's death.
"Such a huge amount of concrete raises many questions. It resembles what happened in Chernobyl [Nuclear Power Plant] when vast amounts of concrete were used to cover-up the disaster," said Al-Tibi. "This suggests that there are people who know that Arafat was poisoned. Were they told by the French? Do they acknowledge this? These questions need answers."
An investigation into Arafat's death commissioned by Al Jazeera found that he was killed by a poison identified as polonium. According to Al-Tibi, though, no investigation with official judicial power has been carried out.
"All that was done was the formation of a committee that issued some notes," he explained. "No more, no less." Senior Arafat aides, he added, have left the country and live abroad.
