Saying Israel was ultimately responsible, the mainstream Palestinian Fatah movement called Thursday for an open ended investigation into the circumstances of the death five years ago of its founder, Yasser Arafat, reported the dpa. A recommendation adopted at the Fatah conference in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, said Israel was behind the "assassination" of the late Palestinian leader, and called for a probe into his death, while at the same time asking for international help to investigate the matter. The recommendation was put forward by Nasser al-Kidwa, Arafat's nephew and the chairman of the Arafat Institute. Arafat died in Paris in November 11, 2004, two weeks after he was flown out of Ramallah and hospitalized in the French capital. The tight security under which he was placed in hospital, and the lack of information on his medical condition, gave rise to a plethora of rumours concerning the reason for his demise.
