The Palestinian government states that the poisoning of Arafat by Israel, in spite of his negotiations with them: "is proof that Israel is not looking for peace, rather they look to subject Palestinians, make wars and spread destruction". After 10 years as a journalist/correspondent in the area, I fully agree with the Palestinians. - HR

FPF/HR - Amsterdam, Nov. 12th 2006 - As an independent foreign correspondent I lived in Tunis for ten (10) years also 'covering' the PLO, the people and it's leadership. And like some Tunisians and a US agent who went to the special CIA spy school in Sidi Bou Said, close to Tunis where I lived, also quite some Palestinians became my friends. Arafat's secretary during those years lived opposite me in the street, 20 meters away. But I've never been to so many funerals in such a short time: special Mossad squads during those years 'softened up' the Palestinians by killing the main part of the PLO leadership. So, based on my research and long experience of the people and area, it is also my conviction that PLO leader Abu Ammar (Arafat) was poisoned by the USraelis and their collaborators.

My point of view, that also Palestinians are human beings, people like us, and should NOT be exterminated, isn't in vogue yet in The Netherlands and a big part of the EU for instance.* The US junta's brainwashing via their propaganda media is global, but better information is spreading, and real journalism instead of propaganda is still alive and kicking, also thanks to Internet.

Concerning the current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas it should be known that none of all the Palestinians I knew and know, ever trusted a Palestinian who was trusted by the Americans and Israelis. Nobody. And especially not after Abu Mazen (Abbas) delivered new furniture to the offices of the headquarters in Tunis of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

When in the days thereafter, at night also listening to the 'news' from Radio Kol Israel at seven, I heard via Tel Aviv what secretly was discussed two hours ago by the PLO leadership in Tunis, I understood that the PLO was bugged (again) from top to bottom. With 'moles' as big as the Mount Everest. Everything was given an 'electronic sweep' to find the bugs, and among others it showed that the new lamp on Abu Mazen's desk had a live satellite connection.

As the late co-founder and 'grand old man' of the PLO, the very amiable Khaled el Hassan (Abu Said) told me, it transmitted directly to Tel Aviv's Mossad and their 'Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks'. [ha-Mossad le-Modiin ule-Tafkidim Meyuhadim]. For the sound the mini-microphones were in the 'earflaps' of the desk chairs, and the 'satellite' lamp transmitting documents didn't even need to be switched on...

IT WAS ALL REMOVED, BUT SO WAS ARAFAT:

DR. GHAZI HAMAD RENEWS ACCUSATIONS: ISRAEL POISONED ARAFAT

So when the spokesman for the Palestinian government, Dr Ghazi Hamad renews the accusations that Israel poisoned Arafat, as one can read on Al Jazeera, I agree: "Dr. Hamad stressed that the government insists on re-opening the file concerning his death and revealing the crime which Israel trying to conceal.

The government, according to Hamad, considers that the crime of killing Arafat came after he had made significant progress in his negotiations with Israel. "He paid for his national principles, for his refusal to make concessions in regard to the rights of the Palestinian people, with his life." The government also stated that the poisoning of Arafat by Israel, in spite of his negotiations with them, "is proof that Israel is not looking for peace, rather they look to subject Palestinians, make wars and spread destruction".

In a statement Hamad was reading, mourning the late leader, he said that Arafat knew that the Israelis were intending to kill him after the Camp David negotiations. "They [the Israelis] turned their back on him and started to draw their own unilateral plans and impose new facts on the ground, denying the Palestinian partner for peace."

The statement also said that this memorial encourages Palestinians, and their government, to insist on adherence to their rights, "paramount of which is the building of the state, with Jerusalem as its capital, the right to return for refugees, and the release of the prisoners."

Dr Hamad stressed that his government opposes the recognition of the legitimacy of the occupation or any damage done to these rights of the Palestinians. He confirmed the importance of the enhancement of national unity, the empowering of each individual, and the prevention of any internal fighting.

WITH THE TWO YEAR MEMORIAL UNDERWAY, THE PRESIDENT'S DEATH REMAINS SHROUDED IN MYSTERY.

Palestine News Network Saturday, 11 November 2006 - The Fateh movement is memorializing the late President Arafat two years after his death. Near his tomb in Ramallah's Presidential Offices, formerly known as Al-Muqata'a, President Arafat's Fateh party members are holding a rally in his memory Saturday. Israeli forces occupying the West Bank blocked thousands of Palestinians from entering Ramallah for Saturday's memorial.

The Muqata'a is the same place that Israeli tanks besieged for months, but now the destroyed cars and demolished buildings are gone, with only a fraction of the original offices remaining.

TWO YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH, THE CAUSE REMAINS UNCERTAIN.

But several sources concur that then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon telephoned US President Bush and asked for help in terminating President Arafat's life. There is no official investigation underway, said Fateh Bloc spokesperson Ahmed Abdul Rahman, only an internal follow-up committee.

Although the specifics are unclear, what is held as a certainty to many is that the President consumed poison through his food or drink, as was the newly sited agreement between Sharon and Bush. But it cannot be ruled out that our President died as human beings do, because he was old or because he was ill. What is clear that being held under siege, with the Israeli government making clear President Arafat would be killed if he left, contributed in some way to his death.

A friend of the late President, Bassam Abu Sharif, said, “Both verbally and in writing it was expressed that Arafat needed to be cautious of visitors, that someone would put poison in the food.