Experts: Polonium, but not other poisons, ruled out in Arafat death

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Experts who tested the remains of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said in a report they ruled out radioactive polonium as the cause of his 2004 death.

The report states Arafat could have been killed by a different poisonous material, Xinhua reported.

Last year, Swiss, French and Russian experts took samples from the remains for an investigation after scientists found polonium on some of his belongings.

Polonium, an unstable and highly radioactive element, was discovered in 1898 by Pierre and Marie Curie and named after her native Poland.

In 2006, Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent living in London, died from polonium poisoning.

Scientists who found the material on the belongings said some of his symptoms were consistent with polonium poisoning.

Arafat died in a French military hospital from an unknown or undisclosed condition.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of causing the illness.