By the way, you suppose the leadership of Hamas is changing dry cleaners about now? Mwahahaha.
Yasser Arafat 'poisoned with Polonium'
Tests performed by a laboratory in Switzerland found significant traces of Polonium-210 on the late Palestinian leader's clothes, adding a new twist to a case that has obsessed the Arab world for years.
Polonium-210 is the same substance used to poison the Russian dissident Alexader Litvinenko in London.
The claims are likely to renew long-held Palestinian suspicions that the Israeli spy agency Mossad assassinated Arafat, who died in a Paris hospital in November, 2004.
The Institute de Radiophysique in Lausanne found elevated levels of the element on Arafat's personal effects. A urine stain in his underwear registered a level of 180 millibecquerels of Polonium-210, more than 20 times the dose to kill an average human being.
"I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported Polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids," Dr Francois Bochod, the director of the institute, told Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab television station.
Al Jazeera sent Arafat's clothes to the institute for testing after obtaining them from his widow as part of a nine-month investigation into the revolutionary's death.
Many theories have been advanced in the past for the cause of Arafat's death, and his case notes – which are alleged to show that he had suffered cirrhosis – have never been released.
A former speech writer for President George W Bush claimed he had contracted Aids from a homosexual relationship with one of his guards, while aides of Arafat have alleged that he was poisoned by Mossad with Thallium, another radioactive element.
British police and doctors initially believed that Litvinenko, a former KGB officer who defected to London, was killed with Thallium, a misdiagnosis because Polonium-210 is harder to detect with normal hospital equipment.
Some of Arafat's symptoms, including vomiting, cirrhosis and coma, are compatible with Polonium-210 poisoning, which results in a long and agonising death. But it is not thought that Arafat suffered hair loss, which is thought to happen in half of cases of significant exposure to the element.
The dose allegedly ingested by Arafat was much smaller than the amount that killed Litvinenko, making it even harder to detect.
British police dealing with the Litvinenko case have alleged that only a sophisticated, state-backed intelligence agency could source Polonium-210 in a form that could be used to poison someone.
1 comment:
It is not possible that 210 Po was found after nearly 8 years unless it was recently put onto Arafat's clothes and toothbrush. If Arafat was poisoned by Po 210 in 2004 or before,the only isotope detectable after 8 years is 209Po. Russia is the world's biggest producer of polonium.Only 100 gm of Polonium is produced worldwide. Polonium is found in tobacco leaves(the plant concentrates it in the leaf)
But Arafat didn't die like Litvienko (polonium poisoning in the UK) did with acute hairloss and signs of acute radiation poisoning. After 8 years the only detectable isotope of Po would be 209 Po.
Here's why: Polonium 210 has several isotopes and decays into the various ones at specified times of half life as in this table:
Isotope Atomic Mass Half-Life
Po190 189.955 2 ms
Po191 190.995 15.5 ms
Po192 191.992 0.0332 seconds
Po193 192.991 0.42 seconds
Po194 193.988 0.392 seconds
Po195 194.988 4.64 seconds
Po196 195.986 5.8 seconds
Po197 196.986 53.6 seconds
Po198 197.983 1.77 minutes
Po199 198.984 5.48 minutes
Po200 199.982 11.5 minutes
Po201 200.982 15.3 minutes
Po202 201.981 44.7 minutes
Po203 202.9814 36.7 minutes
Po204 203.9803 3.53 hours
Po205 204.9812 1.66 hours
Po206 205.9805 8.8 days
Po207 207.9816 5.80 hours
Po208 207.9812 2.898 years
Po209 208.9824 102 years
Po210 209.9829 138.376 days
Po211 210.9866 0.516 seconds
Po212 211.9888 0.299 us
Po213 212.9928 4.2 us
Po214 213.9952 164.3 us
Po215 214.9994 1.781 ms
Po216 216.0019 0.145 seconds
Po217 <10 seconds
Po218 218.009 3.10 minutes
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