Former advisor says Yasser Arafat died of thallium poisoning

Former senior advisor to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that he died of a lethal dose of thallium posioning in either his food or drinking water.

Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini, or better known as Yasser Arafat, died on Nov. 11, 2004 in Paris, France at a local hospital from an unknown illness. No autopsy was performed but doctors say he died from idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and cirrhosis. However, former senior advisor to Arafat, Bassam Abu Sharif, said he was poisoned by a lethal dose of thallium, which is highly toxic, in his food or water, according to Press TV. Sharif accused Israel of poisoning Arafat when he was under siege in his headquarters in Ramallah. In July of 2009, reports Al-Jazeera, Sharif also accused Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, of poisoning Arafat through his medications by replacing them with similar poisoned medications that were manufactured in Israel. IRIB English Radio notes that former Palestinian Liberation Organization official, Farouq al-Qaddoumi, accused the Palestinian Authority Chief of collaborating with several United States security officials and the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of attempting to assassinate Arafat.