PA’s Abbas says he knows who killed Arafat

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says he knows who killed Yasser Arafat as he marked the 12th anniversary of the former leader’s death but stopped short from giving a name.

Speaking in front of thousands, Abbas says “you ask me who killed him, I know — but my testimony alone is not enough.”

“A commission of inquiry is digging into that, but you’ll find out at the earliest opportunity and be amazed when you know who did it.”

A picture taken on November 9, 2016, shows a large printed photograph of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat hanging outside a door leading to a recreation of the small bedroom where he spent his final years at the new Arafat Museum in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (AFP/Abbas Momani)

“I do not want to mention names, because these names do not deserve to be remembered,” he adds.

Arafat died on November 11, 2004, at a hospital near Paris from unknown causes at the age of 75.

The Palestinians have long accused Israel of poisoning him, charges the Israeli government firmly denies. His body was exhumed in 2012 for tests but a subsequent French investigation found no proof of poisoning.

— AFP