Yasser Arafat’s widow to appeal to the ICC

Soha Arafat, the widow of the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat, has called for Palestinians to unite in the face of the Israeli occupation and search for his killers, Alkhaleejonline.com reported yesterday.

Speaking to Alkhaleejonline’s correspondent, Arafat said that the file on her late husband’s death had not been officially closed, noting that she is seriously thinking of turning to the ICC should the French judiciary refused to reinvestigate his death.

Meanwhile, Colonel Tawfiq Al-Tirawi of the Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday that the committee in charge of the investigation into Arafat’s death had reached a conclusion regarding the name of the killer.

“There is still a little ambiguity that needs time to be sorted out regarding the assassination,” he said, refusing to give more details. However, he says that the committee blames Israel for the assassination.

Yasser Arafat died in a French military hospital in 2004 following a two-year Israeli siege of his compound. Immediately after his death, several international investigations concluded that it was likely he was killed as a result if polonium poisoning.

Palestinians believe that Israel is to blame for Arafat’s death, but efforts are in place to find the person who passed the poison to him.

In 2010, Arafat’s widow filed a complaint against the unknown person to the French judiciary, but the French closed the file without officially accusing anyone.

Several Fatah and PLO officials accuse each other of passing the poison to Arafat, but each one rejects the accusations and claims they are following up the investigation in order to reach the right person who helped to kill him.