Gaza, August 06: A former aide to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has criticized the Palestinian Authority for not launching a probe into his suspicious death.
Bassam Abu Sharif told a news conference held in Ramallah on Wednesday that Arafat died in France when Jacque Chirac was the president, suggesting that Chirac knows the real cause of Arafat’s death, Xinhua reported on Wednesday.
He called on the Fatah faction to immediately form a fact finding committee to investigate his death.
“There is a real nonfeasance in having a real and serious probe and get to the truth that everyone is eager to know,” said Abu Sharif.
Palestinian Authority Acting Chief Mahmoud Abbas meanwhile promised that the Palestinian Authority would continue its investigation into the death of his predecessor.
“We will continue contacts with Arab and foreign countries to reach the fact over his death,” Abbas said at the opening ceremony of the Fatah congress in Bethlehem.
Arafat died of a mysterious disease in a French hospital on November11, 2004.
The Palestinians accused Israel of poisoning him through food, drinks or medications that he received when he was under siege in al-Muqata’a, the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah.
—–Agencies