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Comment by dodyg | Hacker News Reader

Yasser Arafat was a known quantity both to the US and the Israeli for at least 30 years. There was little incentive to kill him at this stage of his life (unlike in 1982) - and I doubt it brought any significant tactical benefits to do so.

I would bet that the poisoning was ordered by someone within the factions of Palestinian struggles.

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Where would Palestinian factions get polonium from? I feel this to be an unlikely scenario.

The most obvious ones were Pakistan, Iran and North Korea. You can find possible links between these countries to the Palestinians (especially via Syria and Hezbollah).

This is a more far fetched scenario given that their immediate neighbor happens to have reactors.

I am not saying he was poisoned or not (I do not know). I am just going by Occam's Razor, here.

I think this is a very good point. Of all the actors who would interact with Arafat, what motivated one of them to (presumably) kill him in Summer/Fall 2004?

Also curious: why did his wife refuse to permit an autopsy?

> Also curious: why did his wife refuse to permit an autopsy?

Islam has fairly strict burial customs, and many Islamic clerics have outlawed autopsies. It isn't a universal belief, but likely figured into the equation...

Yes, Arafat was a known quantity to the US and Israel, but I think you've drawn the wrong conclusion. The fact was that Israel and the US viewed Arafat as a road block to a grand bargain. Israel made their best offer in Camp David, and Arafat refused it. I won't repeat myself (my comment above sets out my view), but if you understand the political circumstances at the time, Arafat was in fact the last remaining major road block to a grand bargain that Sharon was moving heaven and earth to get done.

First, I doubt Israel was looking for a Grand Bargain in the midst of Second Intifada.

Second, you made grand bargain with the strongest player that could deliver the result. That was Arafat at the time.

The US has had a lot of known quantities. Look at the Nuremberg trials, or more recently, Saddam and Bin Laden. Being know didn't do them much good.

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