Arafat autopsy

Jerusalem – New suspicions that Yasser Arafat was murdered, perhaps poisoned by radioactive polonium, prompted the Palestinian Authority today to agree to exhume the body of the iconic leader.

Israel, seen by many Arabs as the prime suspect behind the mysterious illness that killed the 75-year-old Arafat in 2004, sought to distance itself anew from the death of the man who led Palestinians’ bid for a state through years of war and peace.

A Swiss institute which examined clothing provided by Arafat’s widow Suha for a documentary by Qatar-based al Jazeera television said its radiation protection experts had found ‘‘surprisingly’’ high levels of polonium-210, the same substance found to have killed a former Russian spy in London in 2006. But it said symptoms described in the president’s medical reports were not consistent with the radioactive agent.

‘‘I want the world to know the truth about the assassination of Yasser Arafat,’’ Suha Arafat, 48, told al Jazeera.

Allegations of foul play – and of Palestinian involvement in it – have long marked factional fighting among Palestinians. The latest revelation coincides with renewed tensions within Arafat’s Fatah movement, now headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, and between Fatah and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. Abbas’ Administration said it would approve Suha Arafat’s request for an autopsy of Arafat’s remains.