The Fatah party on Thursday blamed Israel for the death of its founder and iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.Fatah delegates, at the party's first congress in 20 years, unanimously voted to "attribute to Israel, as an occupying power, full responsibility for the assassination of the martyr Yasser Arafat".
At the time of Arafat's death, the Palestinian officials charged he had been poisoned by Israel. However, an inconclusive investigation by the Palestinians in 2005 ruled out cancer, AIDS or poisoning as a cause for his death.
That report reiterated previous assessments that Arafat's death "resulted from severe haemorrhaging of the brain", but added that Arafat's "clinical state presented several symptoms which could not be explained in the framework of nosology". Israeli Information Minister Yuli Edelstein categorically rejected the accusation.
"The attempt to blame Israel for Arafat's assassination and perpetuate him as a martyr is aimed at justifying the ongoing armed struggle against Israel," he said in a statement.