RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories, Nov 8 AFP - Palestinian investigators say Israel is the "only suspect" in the death of president Yasser Arafat, after laboratory tests suggested he died from polonium poisoning.
"We say that Israel is the prime and only suspect in the case of Yasser Arafat's assassination, and we will continue to carry out a thorough investigation to find out and confirm all the details and all elements of the case," Palestinian inquiry chief Tawfiq Tirawi told a news conference on Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Tirawi said the Palestinian inquiry had studied the findings of Swiss scientists, released Wednesday, which "moderately" supported the notion that Arafat had been poisoned.
"This is the crime of the 21st century," Tirawi said. "The fundamental (goal) is to find out who is behind the liquidation of Yasser Arafat."
Palestinian officials on Thursday demanded an international inquiry.
"This substance (polonium) is owned by states, not people, meaning that the crime was committed by a state," senior Palestine Liberation Organisation official Wasel Abu Yusef told AFP.
The Swiss team on Thursday said the test results neither confirmed nor denied that polonium was the source of his death, although they provided "moderate" backing for the idea he was poisoned by the rare and highly radioactive element.
They said the quantity of the deadly substance found on his remains pointed to the involvement of a third party.
Arafat died in France on November 11, 2004, at the age of 75 after falling sick a month earlier, but doctors were unable to specify the cause of death and no post-mortem was done at the time.
In November 2012, his remains were exhumed and samples taken, partly to investigate whether he had been poisoned with polonium - a suspicion that grew after the assassination in that manner of Russian ex-spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
Palestinian society has long given currency to the rumour Arafat was murdered, with Israel the party blamed most often.
