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12/11/2004:

"Palestinian Committee Given Report on Arafat Death"

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Yasser Arafat's nephew on Saturday handed a medical report to a Palestinian committee investigating the cause of the Palestinian leader's death at a French hospital on Nov. 11.

Nasser al-Kidwa, who is also the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, said the French doctors who treated Arafat in his final days had failed to discover a definitive cause of death for Arafat in their 557-page report.

He said he hoped a Palestinian committee would shed more light on Arafat's cause of death. The committee, which would include Tunisian, Jordanian and Egyptian doctors who treated Arafat, was due to begin consultations on Saturday.

``We are not in a position to reach a final conclusion in the near future on the cause of death,'' al-Kidwa told reporters at a news conference after presenting the French medical dossier to acting Palestinian President Rawhi Fattouh.

French officials have rejected rumors that Arafat, who died at the age of 75, had been poisoned.

They have declined to comment further on his case, citing French privacy rules. But they gave copies of Arafat's medical records to his next of kin, including al-Kidwa.

Israel has vehemently denied being responsible for Arafat's deterioration in health before his death or for poisoning him.

Officials say that he had access to medical treatment, food, water and medication during the two years he spent in his battered compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, which was besieged by Israeli troops for months in 2002.
Full Article:nytimes.com/reuters