A commission of inquiry formed by the Palestinian Authority has found former Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan responsible for the death of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. Arafat died in late 2004, aged 75, in France, after a short illness. The cause of his death has since been debated, inspiring various conspiracy theories, many of them alleging assassination by poison. The Palestinian inquiry's findings, published Sunday, claim that Dahlan gave Arafat poisoned medicine during his 2004 hospitalization in Paris. The report further alleged that Dahlan loyalists were in contact with officials in a visiting foreign delegation, who delivered the poisoned medicine given to him. The individuals implicated later confessed to their crime, the report said. The report also accused Dahlan of attempting to enlist senior officers and commanders in the Palestinian administration and stage a military coup in the West Bank to depose Arafat's appointed successor -- Mahmoud Abbas. The latter and his close associates also hold Dahlan responsible for Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, through the expulsion and lynching of Fatah members there. Dahlan was forced into exile after the Fatah party accused him of corruption and treason for collaborating with Israel, an offense carrying the death penalty under the Palestinian constitution. Dahlan and his close associates deny the allegations, and maintain Abbas is using Palestinian security forces to run a smear campaign against him out of fear Dahlan may win in a democratic presidential election. Also on Sunday, Palestinian arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, former Fatah secretary general in the West Bank, was elected to Fatah's 23-member Executive Committee in a vote held in Ramallah as part of Fatah's seventh general assembly. Palestinian Football Association President and former West Bank security chief Jibril Rajoub was also elected to the committee. Barghouti is currently serving five consecutive life terms and an additional 40 years in Israel, following his 2004 conviction on five counts of murder, and several counts of conspiracy to commit murder and aiding and abetting terrorist activities. Last week, Fatah's general assembly extends Abbas' term as party chairman by five years.
Arafat poisoned by political rival, Palestinian investigation finds
Internal document accuses exiled Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan of poisoning Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat during his 2004 hospitalization in Paris • Imprisoned arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti elected to Fatah's Executive Committee.
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