RAMALLAH – Criminal investigators from France will exhume Yasser Arafat's remains next month to try to find out how the Palestinian leader died, a French official said Tuesday. The official said the team from France will arrive sometime between Nov. 24 and Nov. 26 in the West bank city of Ramallah. Palestinian authorities confirmed the timetable and said a separate Swiss investigative team would also arrive in Ramallah at the same time. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The push to re-examine circumstances surrounding Arafat's November 2004 death came after a Swiss lab recently discovered traces of polonium-210, a deadly radioactive isotope, on clothes said to be his. The discovery revived suspicions of poisoning. The immediate cause of Arafat's death was a stroke, but the underlying source of an illness he suffered in his final weeks has never been clear. Investigators from France and Switzerland will conduct parallel probes into Arafat's death, acting separately on behalf of Arafat's widow Suha Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, who each had misgivings about the other's investigation. While their probes are separate, the French and the Swiss are to visit the grave together and will only be allowed one chance to draw samples. – AP
