President Obama in Ramallah giving Mahmoud Abbas a pat on the back.

Nadia Hijab writes: The dust is settling after US President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory and Jordan, and it is now easier to see the extent of the debris he has left behind. It is perhaps at the geopolitical level that Obama has done the most damage – and that to the weakest party, the Palestinian authority, he met. The surprise reconciliation he engineered between Israel and Turkey has reversed the only regional realignment in the Palestinians’ favour for years.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan clearly hopes to soften the blow of restoring normal relations with Israel, badly damaged after Israel’s lethal attack on the Mavi Marmara, by promising a solidarity visit to Gaza. Erdogan is also claiming, in the face of repeated Israeli denials, that he has secured an end to the siege of Gaza.

However, the fact remains that Turkey, Israel and the US have all made concrete political and economic gains while Palestinians gained some empty gestures. [Continue reading…]

Reuters reports: Arab states agreed to provide the Palestinian Authority with a $100 million monthly “financial safety net” to help President Mahmoud Abbas’s government cope with an economic crisis after the United Nations granted de facto statehood to Palestine.

Israel has responded to the November 29 U.N. vote by ordering 3,000 Jewish settler homes be built in the occupied West Bank and announced it would hold back payments of customs duties it collects on behalf of the Palestinians to pay an outstanding electricity bill.

In a statement issued on Sunday after a meeting in Doha, Arab foreign ministers called for the “immediate implementation” of a resolution passed at an Arab summit in Baghdad in March, which called for the provision of a $100 million monthly safety net.

But the statement did not give details of how the money would be paid or who would pay.

Karl Vick writes: Today, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas formally asks the United Nations General Assembly to be voted aboard as a “non-member state.” Assured of its passage by a whopping majority, Israel and the United States have noted their objections mildly and mostly for the record, their effort to limit the fallout for the Jewish state itself limited in the wake of Gaza.

The status of “non-member state” — emphasis on the “state” — will give Palestine the same level of diplomatic recognition as the Vatican, which is technically a sovereign entity. The Holy See has its own ambassadors but, for a few, may be better known for its busy post office off St. Peter’s Square, where tourists queue for what quiet thrills are afforded by a Vatican stamp cancelled with the Pope’s postmark.

Palestine already has post offices. The particular marker of sovereignty it seeks from the U.N. is even more bureaucratic: Access to international organizations, especially the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Experts on international law say that, armed with the mass diplomatic recognition of the 150 or so nations it counts as supporters, Palestine will be in a position to bring cases against Israel, which has occupied the land defined as Palestine – the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – since 1967.

The ICC, as it’s known, is on record as inclined to regard Israel’s more than 100 residential settlements on the West Bank as a crime of war. (The Jewish state pulled its settlers and soldiers out of Gaza in 2005, and argues that it no longer qualifies as its “occupier” under international law. Critics argue otherwise.) The physical presence of the settlements in other words would give Palestine a ready-made case to drag Israel before the court — or to threaten dragging it before the court. In the dynamics of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the real power lay in the threat. But in his last UN address, in September, Abbas began to lay the foundation for charges based not on the settlements but on the violent behavior of some individual settlers, who attack Palestinian neighbors and vandalize property and mosques. Settler attacks have skyrocketed in the last two years, according to UN monitors, and now account for the majority of the political violence on the West Bank, despite the lingering popular impression of Palestinian terrorism dating back decades. On the West Bank, at least, the reality has changed. [Continue reading…]

Lara Friedman writes: The first shot has been fired in the much-anticipated Congressional battle to punish the Palestinians for seeking to upgrade their status at the UN – and to also punish any UN agencies and any countries that support them.

The vehicle for this attack is S. 3254 – the highly contentious National Defense Authorization Act, which the Senate is now considering. For those who keep track of these sorts of things, there is NOTHING in the NDAA that in any way relates to the Palestinians. No funding, no programs – nothing. But that hasn’t stopped Senators Barrasso (R-WY), Lee (R-UT), and Inhofe (R-OK) from introducing an amendment whose purpose is defined as “To provide for restrictions on foreign assistance related to the status of the Palestinian mission to the United Nations.” A copy of the amendment, which was filed this afternoon, is available here. Senator Barrasso’s press release touting introduction of the amendment is available here.

The amendment seeks to do three things:

(1) Compel the President to cut U.S. assistance to the Palestinian Authority by 50% if the PA “seeks at any time after November 25, 2012, at the United Nations General Assembly or any other United Nations entity status different than the status it held on November 25, 2012” — with such cuts continuing “until permanent status issues between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are fully resolved”; [Continue reading…]

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: Julia Gillard has been forced to abandon her personal opposition to Palestinians winning a seat in the United Nations – despite threatening to exercise a prime ministerial veto and demand Australia reject the bid.

The backdown headed off an ugly stoush in Labor caucus that threatened to deliver a fresh blow to Ms Gillard’s political authority over backbench demands Australia recognise Palestine as just one step short of a fully fledged nation.

Israel is fiercely opposed to the move – expected to be put in a formal resolution on Thursday in New York – and Ms Gillard had insisted to cabinet colleagues that Australia would also vote against it.

Ms Gillard had previously nominated support for Israel as a key foreign policy priority and last year overruled former foreign minister Kevin Rudd, directing Australia reject Palestinian membership of the UN cultural body, UNESCO.

But during a heated cabinet debate on Monday night, at least 10 ministers, including several from the Right faction, warned Ms Gillard she faced a caucus revolt should Australia vote against Palestinians winning an equivalent standing to the Vatican in the General Assembly.

Labor’s longest-serving foreign minister, Gareth Evans, also made a direct intervention over the issue, travelling to Canberra on Monday to warn MPs that Australia would be “on the wrong side of history” by opposing the Palestinian bid and would lose credibility for its hard-won UN Security Council seat. [Continue reading…]

Israeli officials say they are unconcerned about tomorrow’s vote in the UN General Assembly where Palestine will become a non-member observer state. The occupation will continue and none of the Jewish settlements will be removed from the West Bank. The Israelis dismiss Mahmoud Abbas as a corrupt political leader who is fighting for his own survival.

Ynet reports: Israel has accepted it cannot stop the Palestinians from going forward with their UN status upgrade bid on Thursday. The General Assembly is set to approve Mahmoud Abbas’ bid to upgrade the Palestinian Authority’s status to from observer to non-member state.

“I wouldn’t overstate the importance of the UN vote,” a senior Israeli official said. “True, we’re going to see fireworks in Ramallah but the settlements will remain exactly where they are and the IDF will continue to operate in the same areas.”

The forum of top nine ministers has yet to decide what steps to take in response but it appears Israel will keep a low profile so as not to turn the focus away from the Palestinian move which clearly violates the Oslo Accords.

Meanwhile, one by one European nations on Wednesday announced their support for the Palestinian bid.

Spain, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway all issued statements announcing they will vote in favor of the status upgrade on Thursday. Meanwhile, Germany and the Czech Republic will likely not endorse the bid.

“I am happy to announce that Denmark will vote in favor … (in) the vote on Thursday,” Danish Foreign Minister Villy Soevndal said in a statement.

“For some time it has been clear that the Palestinians have wanted an upgrade of their status at the United Nations to that of a non-member observer state. After several weeks of talks, a resolution was finally presented yesterday,” Soevndal said.

On Tuesday, France officially announced it would be endorsing the Palestinian bid. It is estimated that most Asian and African nations, with the exception of Malawi, Togo and Cameroon, will also vote in favor of the status upgrade.

Britain is set to abstain as will Italy, Australia and Germany. Israeli officials estimate that other than Israel itself, the US, Canada, Micronesia and Guatemala will vote against the bid.

Having realized the battle has been lost, Israeli officials are trying to downplay the move. “We won’t be passive and sit idly by,” a state official said, “but there’s no need to issue statements. We’ll respond when the time is right.”

Though Israel is accusing the Palestinians of grossly violating the Oslo Accords it has announced it will continue to honor them herself.

However, it has been revealed that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has recommended deducting the NIS 750 million owed by the PA to the Israel Electric Corp. from the tax money Israel transfers to the Palestinians every month, in accordance with 1994 Paris Agreement.

The state official also dismissed Palestinians threats to try Israeli statesmen and officers over settlement construction in the International Criminal Court. “We need not fear this,” he said.

Meanwhile, Israel is stepping up its criticism of Abbas. A senior official said Tuesday that the Palestinian president is no longer relevant and that his UN bid is meant to guarantee his personal political survival.

Abbas is a corrupt leader, he said, who has postponed the West Bank elections for more than two years as he knows he will lose to Hamas.

The Guardian reports: Britain is prepared to back a key vote recognising Palestinian statehood at the United Nations if Mahmoud Abbas pledges not to pursue Israel for war crimes and to resume peace talks.

Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has called for Britain’s backing in part because of its historic responsibility for Palestine. The government has previously refused, citing strong US and Israeli objections and fears of long-term damage to prospects for negotiations.

On Monday night, the government signalled it would change tack and vote yes if the Palestinians modified their application, which is to be debated by the UN general assembly in New York later this week. As a “non-member state”, Palestine would have the same status as the Vatican.

Whitehall officials said the Palestinians were now being asked to refrain from applying for membership of the international criminal court or the international court of justice, which could both be used to pursue war crimes charges or other legal claims against Israel.

Abbas is also being asked to commit to an immediate resumption of peace talks “without preconditions” with Israel. The third condition is that the general assembly’s resolution does not require the UN security council to follow suit.

The US and Israel have both hinted at possible retaliation if the vote goes ahead. Congress could block payments to the Palestinian Authority and Israel might freeze tax revenues it transfers under the 1993 Oslo agreement or, worse, withdraw from the agreement altogether. It could also annex West Bank settlements. Britain’s position is that it wants to reduce the risk that such threats might be implemented and bolster Palestinian moderates.

France has already signalled that it will vote yes on Thursday, and the long-awaited vote is certain to pass as 132 UN members have recognised the state of Palestine. Decisions by Germany, Spain and Britain are still pending and Palestinians would clearly prefer a united EU position as counterweight to the US.

Yossi Beilin, one of the architect of the Oslo Accords, writes: The cease-fire that ended the latest round of violence between Israel and the Palestinians has enhanced the popularity of the militant group Hamas. This extremist organization has become the only interlocutor for the Arab world, for the West and, indirectly, for Israel. But Hamas refuses to recognize Israel’s existence or to negotiate with Israelis. Meanwhile, the pragmatic Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party, is rapidly losing legitimacy and Israel’s recent strikes on Gaza will only weaken it further. Negotiating with Hamas may secure a lull, but Hamas cannot be a partner for peace.

If the world wants to express support for the Palestinian party that recognizes Israel, seeks to avoid violence, and genuinely wishes to reach a peace agreement in which a Palestinian state exists alongside — not instead of — Israel, it will have its chance later this week when Mr. Abbas makes his bid for recognition of Palestinian statehood before the United Nations. If American and Israeli opposition to a Palestinian bid continues, it could serve as a mortal blow to Mr. Abbas, and end up being a prize that enhances the power and legitimacy of Hamas.

Beilin claims Hamas refuses to negotiate with Israel and yet he does so in the context of Hamas’s recent negotiations with Israel — a ceasefire agreement and before that the release of Gilad Shilat in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, both deals negotiated in Egypt. Moreover, Hamas’s political leader, Khalid Meshaal, has repeatedly stated that his organization would accept the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders if this has popular support among the Palestinian people.

The real issue that Israel, the E.U., and the U.S. are up against is their unwillingness to accept the fact that Palestinian political leaders cannot be both legitimate in the eyes of the Palestinian people and subservient to Israel.

The Guardian reports: Yasser Arafat was buried eight years ago to a chorus of gunfire before a crowd of thousands amid the rubble of his Ramallah headquarters.

On Tuesday, his corpse was quietly dug up again in the middle of the night, shielded from prying eyes, to test a suspicion that the Palestine Liberation Organisation leader was poisoned with a radioactive substance.

The tests were in part prompted by a French murder inquiry requested by Arafat’s widow. But there’s a good chance they will not provide the answers many Palestinians want to hear. And even if the tests do show he was poisoned, they are also likely to raise unsettling questions many may not want to face.

At Arafat’s funeral in 2004, Palestinians packed the Muqata – the old British administration building that served as his headquarters after his return to the West Bank – and every rooftop within sight as his coffin was navigated through the chanting, shooting crowds, past the rubble left by the Israeli siege to a hastily dug grave site.

The Muqata has been rebuilt, after large parts were destroyed by Israeli tanks, and transformed into a sprawling presidential palace of Jerusalem stone. Arafat’s mausoleum is now a towering quadrangle of limestone and glass, a reflecting pool, and an honour guard.

But all of that was hidden behind large blue tarpaulins, hung to shield the exhumation from outsiders as at around midnight workers began the lengthy process of drilling down through metres of concrete poured over the coffin.

Before dawn, Arafat’s remains were finally reached. A Palestinian doctor and foreign forensic experts looked at the state of the corpse and decided against attempting to remove the whole thing. The Palestinian doctor instead took only samples, which were moved to a mosque where they were prepared for examination by international teams from France, Russia and Switzerland.

The Telegraph reports: Tawfiq Tirawi, head of the Palestinian commission investigating Arafat’s death, said: “If it is proved that Arafat was poisoned, we will go to the international court.”

His remarks were made at a press conference which took place several hours after the veteran leader’s remains were exhumed for testing by a team of international experts.

The removal of the samples was conducted by a Palestinian doctor in the presence of experts from Switzerland, Russia and France.

The controversial exhumation came two days before Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to present a formal request for upgraded status at the United Nations, which would raise its rank from that of an observer entity to an observer state.

Such a move would allow the Palestinians to join many UN organisations or international treaties, such as the ICC or the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians.

If the assault on Gaza was conceived as a demonstration of a war-making prime minister’s strength as he approaches an election, Benjamin Netanyahu’s drop in the polls already indicates how big a failure Operation Pillar of Cloud quickly became — the damage to Israel’s standing will only continue.

The next big “threat” Israel faces will come in the UN where the Palestinian Authority will shortly press its bid for recognition as a non-member state. Israel is threatening to punish the Palestinians, but politically, Mahmoud Abbas cannot afford to yet again buckle to Israeli and American pressure and thus Israel’s allies now perceive the collapse of the Palestinian Authority as a more imminent danger than the symbolic move at the UN.

Ma’an reports: The European Parliament on Thursday adopted a statement expressing support for the Palestinian bid for UN recognition as a non-member state next week.

In the aftermath of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the parliament agreed a statement stressing “peaceful and non-violent means are the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

The parliament said in connection to this goal, it supports the bid championed by leaders in the West Bank, and “considers this an important step in making Palestinian claims more visible, stronger and more effective.”

The resolution called on European Union countries to reach agreement over their position on the bid.

Haaretz reports: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during her talks in Israel this week not to take any extreme actions in response to the Palestinian move in the United Nations for recognition as a non-member state. Clinton said such steps against the Palestinian Authority could bring about its collapse. The Palestinians are planning to ask the United Nations General Assembly to vote on upgrading its status from non-member entity on the symbolic date of November 29.

The day after the cease-fire with Hamas took effect, Israel is preparing for the next crisis with the Palestinians, which is scheduled for six days from now. November 29th is the anniversary of the United Nations vote on accepting the Partition Plan in 1947, which led to the founding of the Jewish Sate. It is also the United Nations’ International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

The Palestinians are expected to have the support of at least 150 of the 193 UN members for their bid. Israel is particularly worried about the upgraded status, since it would allow the Palestinians to also ask for membership in the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and then bring cases against Israel, such as for construction in the settlements. In an attempt to deter Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel threatened to respond with various punishments against the PA.

Clinton met with Netanyahu Tuesday night in Jerusalem. Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also were present. The focus of the meeting was on the attempts to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza, but the issue of the Palestinian UN proposal was also discussed.

On Wednesday morning Clinton visited Ramallah and met with Abbas. Clinton asked him to reconsider the UN bid, or at least postpone it until after the Israeli elections. But Abbas sounded determined not to put off the UN vote, both in his meeting with Clinton and in a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon a short time later. Abbas told Clinton “the train has already left the station.” Abbas told Ban that if Israel punishes the Palestinians the day after the UN vote, “I will invite Netanyahu to the Muqata in Ramallah and I will give him the keys and go home,” said a Western diplomat.

The Associated Press reports: A Western diplomat says the exhumation of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s remains will take place Nov. 26.

He says a Swiss team has arrived in the West Bank ahead of the planned exhumation. The team will assess the grave site and plan how best to dig up the remains.

The Swiss team will be joined by French investigators. The two teams, who are set to conduct parallel probes into Arafat’s death, will only be allowed one chance to draw samples.

The Ma’an news agency reports: The PLO began distributing a position paper to European governments on Wednesday, detailing plans to seek an upgrade of Palestine’s status at the United Nations in November.

In the document, obtained by Ma’an, the PLO emphasizes that membership in the UN is no substitute for negotiations with Israel. But it says Palestine’s right to self-determination does not require Israeli approval.

The text underscores concerns about how the United States and Israel will respond if the UN bid succeeds, and it asks European countries not to go along with possible sanctions against the Palestinian Authority.

“Palestine asks the world to reaffirm that the Palestinians are not the exception to the international rule; that they will not be punished for pursuing a peaceful, political and diplomatic initiative on the basis of international law,” the document says.

The message followed a private US memo sent to European diplomats in early October warning that any UN upgrade of Palestine’s status “would be extremely counterproductive” for the Palestinians and threatening “significant negative consequences”.

If the UN bid succeeds, Palestine’s “observer entity” status would change to “observer state”, granting access to bodies such as the International Criminal Court.

The PLO has sought to reassure Europe and the US, key financiers of the Palestinian Authority, that it does not seek to isolate Israel, which has threatened to respond with sanctions.

“The Palestinian initiative intends to protect the prospects of peace and accelerate its realization. This step reaffirms and protects the internationally-endorsed two-state solution,” the document says. [Continue reading…]

The Guardian reports: Within the guarded walls of the Palestinian presidential compound, known as the Muqata, the body of Yasser Arafat lies inside a gleaming limestone and glass mausoleum. It is here that political figures, dignitaries, devotees and tourists come to pay their respects to a man who was revered and reviled across the world as the face of the Palestinian struggle for decades.

The mausoleum is closed to visitors for renovations to the Muqata. So the next group to cross the smooth pale flagstones between the compound’s southern gate and Arafat’s tomb is likely to comprise three French judges, expected to arrive in Ramallah in the next few weeks. Their mission is to investigate allegations that the former Palestinian president did not die of natural causes but was murdered (video), poisoned by agents acting for Israel.

There has been no shortage of rumours and theories about the cause of Arafat’s death in November 2004, following a sudden deterioration in his health after more than two years of virtual incarceration inside the Ramallah compound. Claims that the 75-year-old leader had Aids or cirrhosis were swiftly discounted, but suggestions that he was poisoned have proved more durable. Now scientists are attempting to prove or quash such theories.

The exhumation of Arafat’s body will be a delicate and emotive undertaking, given the deep affection and respect in which he continues to be held by Palestinians almost eight years after his death. The corpse will be removed from the tomb and transferred to a hospital in Ramallah for samples to be taken and tested for the presence of toxins. [Continue reading…]

Reuters reports: Three French judges are preparing to travel to Ramallah to seek the exhumation Yasser Arafat’s body as part of an investigation into whether he was murdered by poison, a judicial source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The investigating magistrates will need approval from both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has already expressed his government’s willingness to exhume the body from a limestone sepulchre in Ramallah.

Arafat’s widow, Suha, said in a statement sent to Reuters that the judges told her lawyer they had begun the necessary steps to travel to Ramallah, where police experts would carry out tests under their authority.

“I respectfully ask the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League to suspend all initiatives while the French justice system is looking into the case, other than to act together with them,” Suha Arafat wrote.

The French murder investigation “should take precedence over all other procedures, because it is the incontestable guarantee of independence and neutrality”, she added.

The court launched the murder inquiry last month into the 2004 death of Arafat in a Paris military hospital after his widow said he may have been poisoned.

No autopsy was carried out after Arafat died, aged 75, a month after being flown to France, seriously ill, from his headquarters in Ramallah.

The Associated Press reports: A French murder probe into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat prompted an Israeli denial of responsibility on Wednesday and renewed doubts that Palestinians would stick to a halfhearted pledge to exhume Arafat’s body.

Arafat’s death eight years ago in a French hospital has remained a long-running mystery for many, driven by murky but persistent conspiracy theories that he had cancer, AIDS or was poisoned.

His successor, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, reluctantly agreed to exhume the former leader’s remains for an autopsy this summer after new evidence prompted Arafat’s widow to seek a criminal investigation. Any finding of wrongdoing would be an embarrassment to Palestinians, who were most in contact with Arafat before he fell ill.

Officials say Abbas went forward under public pressure, despite hesitation about the public spectacle of digging up the body from the massive mausoleum outside Palestinian headquarters in the West Bank. But the autopsy has been on hold while authorities seek Suha Arafat’s approval.

Arafat, who was 75, died at a French military hospital in November 2004, two weeks after he was rushed there from his West Bank headquarters with a mysterious illness. He died of a stroke, but the underlying reasons for his condition have been constantly debated.

The theory that he was poisoned by Israelis —a charge the Israelis vociferously deny — has been popular in the Arab world. The idea gained steam in July after a Swiss lab found traces of Polonium-210, a rare and lethal radioactive isotope, on Arafat’s clothing.

“Israel did not have any hand in this,” Dov Weisglass, a senior Israeli official at the time of Arafat’s death, said in a radio interview Wednesday, even while calling Arafat “one of Israel’s worst enemies.”

Suha Arafat, who is a French citizen, asked for an investigation after the new findings; a French court announced the probe this week. She declined to comment on details of the case when reached Wednesday at her home in Malta, saying only “It’s in the hands of the judiciary.”

The office of her lawyer, Pierre Olivier Sur, said Suha Arafat wants the probe to be completely independent, though it said it did not see how any inquiry could proceed without an exhumation and autopsy.

The lab that discovered the polonium and which is expected to conduct the autopsy, the Institute of Radiation Physics, confirmed that the autopsy plans are now on hold.

“We are ready to move and can therefore respond quickly to the confirmed invitation of the Palestinian National Authority,” said spokesman Darcy Christen. “Mrs. Arafat wishes, however, that any act of investigation is done in collaboration with the French courts. However, the French procedure has just begun.”

The Associated Press reports: Swiss experts have been invited to the West Bank to test Yasser Arafat’s remains for possible poisoning, the chief investigator looking into the 2004 death of the Palestinian leader said Wednesday.

The announcement followed weeks of zigzagging on the autopsy issue by officials in the Palestinian Authority, the self-rule government that Arafat established. Their conflicting positions and hesitation triggered speculation they were trying to quietly kill the investigation.

Last month, Switzerland’s Institute of Radiation Physics said it had detected elevated levels of radioactive polonium-210 on stains on Arafat’s clothing, reviving longstanding rumors in the Arab world that the Palestinian leader was poisoned.

However, the lab said the findings were inconclusive and that only exhuming Arafat’s remains could bring possible clarity. Lab officials also said polonium decays quickly and that an autopsy would need to be done within a few months at most. They also said they needed a formal invitation to proceed with testing.
[…]
Tawfik Tirawi, the chief Palestinian official investigating Arafat’s death said the Palestinians asked the Swiss lab for help. The lab confirmed that.

“We are currently studying how to adequately respond to this demand,” Darcy Christen, a spokesman for the Swiss institute, said Wednesday. “Meanwhile, our main concern is to guarantee the independence, the credibility and the transparency of any possible involvement on our side,” she said.

The Associated Press reports: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has given his permission to exhume the remains of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, a top aide said Monday, days after a Swiss institute reported finding elevated traces of a radioactive substance on the late leader’s belongings.

The findings by Switzerland’s Institute of Radiation Physics were inconclusive, but revived speculation that Arafat was poisoned.

The legendary Palestinian leader died Nov. 11, 2004 in a French military hospital, a month after falling violently ill at his government compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

The Swiss institute has said it would need to examine Arafat’s remains for conclusive findings, though a clear-cut outcome is not assured because of the decay of the substance, polonium-210, over the years. Last week, Abbas said he was willing, in principle, to allow an autopsy, provided he receives permission from religious authorities and Arafat’s family.

Arafat was buried in a mausoleum that has become the centerpiece of the Ramallah compound where Abbas’ headquarters are located. The exhumation would create a huge spectacle that could upset some devout Muslims, though there seems to be a widespread desire among Palestinians to determine the cause of death.

Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said Monday that the Palestinian president has decided to invite the Swiss experts to Ramallah in order to examine the remains. “We are on the way to an autopsy,” Erekat told The Associated Press.

Erekat said a Palestinian medical expert would contact the Swiss institute later Monday or Tuesday to offer the invitation. Erekat said an autopsy could be conducted as soon as the Swiss team arrives. There was no immediate comment from the institute.

Arafat’s widow, Suha, has repeatedly called for exhuming the remains. She worked closely with the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera, which conducted an investigation into Arafat’s death and received permission from her to submit her husband’s belongings for testing. The top Muslim cleric in the Palestinian territories has also given his blessing to exhuming the remains.

Arafat’s nephew, Nasser al-Kidwa, has been cool to the idea of an autopsy but signaled he will not stand in the way.

“Our belief was always that it was an unusual death, and most likely he (Arafat) was poisoned. Now all indications say he was poisoned,” al-Kidwa told AP. Al-Kidwa, a former Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, heads the Yasser Arafat Foundation and is the custodian of Arafat’s memory.

Erekat suggested that Abbas was firm in his decision to move forward.

Polonium-210 is a highly lethal substance, and less than 1 gram (0.04 ounces) of the silver powder is sufficient to kill. Because polonium-210 decays rapidly, experts have been divided over whether testing Arafat’s remains would provide a solid clue eight years after his death.

To say that less than 1 gram would be fatal is literally true and grossly misleading. One microgram, which is one millionth of a gram — an amount no larger than a speck of dust — is lethal.