Yasser Arafat to be exhumed Tuesday
In this handout image provided by the Palestinian Press Office (PPO), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) (centre L) and King Abdullah II of Jordan (center R) lay a wreath at the tomb of the late President Yasser Arafat on November 21, 2011 in Ramallah, West Bank. Arafat’s body is set to be exhumed and re-examined at the end of November.
Yasser Arafat will be exhumed from his tomb in Ramallah on Tuesday, the BBC reports.
Scientists from France, Switzerland and Russia will take samples, travel back to their respective countries, and then test those samples to see if the Palestinian leader was poisoned.
Arafat died in Paris in 2004, and it's thought his death resulted from a stroke and blood disorder. However, an investigation is now underway to prove, one way or another, whether or not the Middle Eastern politician died from exposure to polonium-210, a deadly radioactive isotope.
More from GlobalPost: Polonium, HIV or “Palestinium” — the real story of Yasser Arafat’s death
The investigation began after polonium-210 was found on clothing said to belong to Arafat.
The findings were revealed in an Al Jazeera 9-month investigation, which aired in a July documentary this year.
After Arafat is exhumed, his body will be reburied in a closed ceremony with military honors.
Tawfik Tirawi, head of the Palestinian team investigating the death, told a news conference that Tuesday "will be one of the most difficult days of my life because of many personal, national and symbolic considerations."
He added, "But I consider it a painful necessity. This is necessary to reach the truth in the death of President Yasser Arafat."
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