ARAFAT’S NEPHEW: EXUMING ARAFAT’S BODY DEPENDS ON DEVELOPMENTS IN INVESTIGATION
Head of the Yasser Arafat Institute, Nasser Al Qidwa said that the late president was not only part of the Qidwa family but for all of the Palestinian people, adding that his family was sure Arafat had been assassinated and that the Jazeera investigation had only further confirmed their suspicions. Qidwa met with President Mahmuod Abbas in Paris last night to discuss a number of issues including the investigation into the possible polonium poisoning of Arafat, saying the there must be a political and international move towards international bodies to convict those guilty of killing the president and holding them accountable. If, he said these bodies required further evidence of his assassination, then Arafat’s body would be exhumed and autopsied for more clues. Arafat’s widow Suha has already called on the PA to exhume his body to be tested for polonium poisoning. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=501748).  In a statement issued yesterday, the Yasser Arafat Institute confirmed that the Jazeera findings were in line with their suspicions that Arafat was assassinated and that they were also congruent with Israeli government decisions to ‘remove Arafat” at the time.  The institute called on all parties to take immediate action at all levels and to hold the Israelis fully responsible for the assassination (Al Quds) In related news, Tunisian neurologist Faisal Al Hintati who served President Arafat, said he was prepared to cooperate in an international and scientific investigation to identify the causes of Arafat’s death. He said he would give his testimony within the framework of an international committee that includes medical experts and legal advisors. Hintati has so far refused to confirm or deny reports about the theories behind Arafat’s death, refusing to comment on the results from the Swiss institute that came up with the findings. (http://qudsnet.com/arabic/news.php?maa=View&id=222951)

ARAFAT’S TUNISIAN PHYSICIAN READY TO PARTICIPATE IN INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION; TIRAWI STILL HEAD OF THE INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE INTO ARAFAT’S DEATH  
The Palestinian presidency confirmed yesterday that Major General Tawfiq Tirawi is still head of the national investigation committee looking into Yasser Arafat’s death, contrary to news reports that he had been relieved of his duties. The leadership also said the committee was taking the new findings into the death very seriously at the request of President Abbas. On his part, Tirawi told local radio program Awfan broadcast by the “The Voice of the Orient” that there was no real seriousness in looking into the file of Arafat’s death before either from the leadership or from the family. Tirawi was answering a question on why the leadership did not ask for the president’s blood samples from Percy Hospital. Tirawi said France would not have accepted this kind of request from the PA. Legally, it could only have been requested by Arafat’s family, adding that “I don’t think any one of us knew you could keep blood samples for 10 years.” As for his committee’s investigation, Tirawi said they had been working for the past year and nine months and had questioned over 120 people including Palestinian officials. “We knew we were working within limited capabilities, saying that if France did not have the expertise to check for polonium how could the PA possibly have done it? As for the exhumation, Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories Sheikh Mohammed Hussein said there were no religious obstacles to exhuming the body if for good purpose including Arafat’s body.
In related news, the Arab League said yesterday it had received a request from Tunisia to hold an emergency session of Arab ministers to look into Arafat’s death (Al Quds)

KHREISHEH TO MAAN: EVERYONE REFUSED TO COOPERATE IN UNCOVERING CAUSES OF ARAFAT’S DEATH
Deputy PLC speaker Hassan Khreisheh said yesterday that all Palestinian parties had refused to give any information to the special investigation committee into the death of President Arafat. Khreisheh, who headed the PLC at the time and who worked on the investigation committee, said his committee worked for two straight months without reaching any conclusions because all the relevant parties refused to cooperate with them. He said even those close to Arafat and his physicians refused to give their statements to the committee. Khreisheh said Arafat’s personal physician Ashraf Al Kurd and the Egyptian and Tunisian doctors working on the case all refused to give statements, saying they had been pressured from their countries to stay silent, adding that there was proof of a ‘regional Arab and Palestinian agreement” to close the file on the causes of Arafat’s death. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=501761)

ISRAEL DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN POISONING ARAFAT; CONFIRMS THAT HIS WIFE KNOWS THE TRUTH
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially denied any involvement in the killing of President Arafat, saying in an official statement that the accusation made against Israel to this effect was completely baseless and untrue. Political and security sources described the findings in the Jazeera report as “unscientific” saying that any search for the truth about the perpetrator should not be in Israel. Israeli security sources told Yedioth Ahranoth that the truth about Arafat’s death are in his medical files that Suha Arafat holds, adding that the Palestinian leadership knows the truth and that Israel challenged it to publish this truth, hinting that if the leadership continues to accuse Israel, it will force it to tell what it knows, mainly that Arafat had AIDS. Former Israeli public security minister and former Shabak head Avi Dichter said he knew for sure that Israel had nothing to do with poisoning Arafat’s food or belongings, claiming that Arafat “had many enemies inside and outside.” (http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&issueno=12274&article=685162&feature=)

ISRAELI AUTHORITIES RESUME CONSTRUCTION OF WALL IN THE WEST BANK
Israeli Colonel Ofer Hindi said yesterday that Israeli occupation authorities will resume the construction of the separation wall in the West Bank within a few weeks’ time, construction which has been halted for the past five years. According to Hindi, work will be resumed in its first phase around the Gush Etzion settlement bloc near Bethlehem. Next year, work will be resumed around the Maaleh Adumim settlement east of Jerusalem. The colonel made his statements before a high court session, which previously had issued a number of orders to reroute the course of the wall as a result of complaints submitted by the Palestinians. According to the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahranot, the construction was also suspended due to international pressures, saying Israeli officials are expecting international criticisms once the construction works are resumed. So far 400 kilometers out of 700 of the wall have been completed. (Al Ayyam)

THE PRESIDENT REFUSES INTERVENTION BY ISRAEL IN HIS MEETING WITH LIBERATED PRISONER AMNEH MUNA
President Mahmoud Abbas refused comments by Israel’s Channel Two about his meeting with freed prisoner Amneh Muna, who was released in the Gilad prisoner swap and deported, saying he had every right to meet with any Palestinian citizen he wanted to. In an interview with Channel Two, Abbas said Muna was a Palestinian citizen and a member of Fatah, saying she fought the occupation, was punished and was then pardoned by Israel. He said she was first of all a human and a Palestinian who deserved care.  Abbas said many Israelis had committed crimes against their best friends, adding peace means forgetting the past and trying to achieve peace. He also confirmed that he had met with her and would continue to do so just like he would care for all Palestinians. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)

ZANOUN CONFIRMS THE COMPLETION OF DRAFTING THE ELECTIONS DRAFT LAW; HAWATMEH CALLS FOR A MEETING OF PLO’S HIGHER COMMITTEE
PNC president Saleem Zanoun and DFLP leader Nayef Hawatmeh stressed yesterday on the need to hold a complete session for the PLO’s higher leadership committee formed to end the split and build national unity within the framework of the PLO. The two leaders also stressed on the need to have a 100% consensus over the PLC and PNC elections law. Zanoun confirmed that the committee of all the factions and figures had finished the drafting of the elections law with full proportional representation for the PNC and PLC, which now needs ratification by the higher leadership commission which includes secretary generals of the factions, the PLO executive committee and the PNC president. (Al Quds)

THE EU TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN JERUSALEM AND AREA C
The European parliament confirmed yesterday that the EU would continue offering financial assistance to support development projects in Area C and East Jerusalem. A press statement issued after the meeting in Strasburg expressed the parliament’s deep concern for the developments in Area C in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, calling on Israel to implement its obligations according to international humanitarian law. It also called on Israel to halt home demolitions, evictions and forced displacement of Palestinians. It called on Israel to ease movement for the Palestinians and guarantee the fair distribution of water in order to meet the needs of the citizens. The parliament called in its statement for improving access to social services, especially education and health services in Area C and East Jerusalem. The statement said ending the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is not only in the parties’ interests but in the interest of the entire area. The statement also called – in a majority vote of 291 to 274 – for both parties to return to talks on the basis of a two state solution without further delay, calling on the Israeli government to halt settlement expansion and construction in the Wes Bank and East Jerusalem, which it considered illegal. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)


GHANAJEH DIED OF SMOKE SUFFOCATION FROM AN ELECTRICAL GENERATOR
Reliable sources in Hamas said yesterday that the Hamas leader Kamal Ghanajeh died of suffocation from gas inhalation coming from an electrical generator in his home in Damascus, denying reports by Syrian opposition group which said the Syrian regime or the Mossad was behind his death. The sources, which asked to remain unnamed, said the investigations carried out by the movement uncovered the details of Ghanajeh’s death by suffocation, saying he could not make it to the window of his apartment fast enough. According to the investigation results, Ghanajeh returned to his apartment and found the electricity had been cut off. He turned on the power generator in his attack, which obviously turned off a while later. When Ghanajeh went up to the attic to turn it on again, he used his lighter to see in front of him, which set the generator on fire. Ghanajeh was burned in the face and neck, fell off the ladder and hit the floor. He did not have time to crawl to the window before suffocating to death. The sources also said what was believed initially to be signs of torture were the results of the explosion and burns from the generator.
The Hamas sources said the Syrian regime had nothing to do with the death, confirming that Ghanajeh had a close relationship with the regime, also denying that the Mossad had anything to do with the death. (http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&issueno=12274&article=685162&feature=)

Fatah strongman dies
Fateh leader and former member of the movement’s central committee Hani Al Hassan died in Jordan this morning. Al Hassan is considered one of Fatah’s founders and formed the first Fatah cell in Europe, particularly Germany with leader Hayel Abdel Hamid in the 1960s. He was president Abbas’ advisor in 2007 and after returning to Palestine he was appointed interior minister in the fifth government. Al Hassan was born in 1938 and is originally from a Haifa-area village named Ijzim. In 1948 he fled Palestine with his family after the Zionist massacres and then moved to Germany to study engineering, where he joined Fatah. Within the movement, Al Hassan was dubbed ‘the man for difficult tasks” and given Fatah’s most important secrets. He returned to Gaza in 1966 and was an opponent of the Oslo Accords. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=501790)


Settlers cut down 120 olive trees in Yitma; take over five dunams of land in Khader
Jewish settlers cut down around 120 olive trees near the village of Yitma south of Nablus yesterday. According to the official in charge of the settlement file in the northern West Bank Ghassan Daghlas, settlers came from the Tafouh settlement built on Palestinian land and cut down the trees, which belong to Yitma resident Badee’ Nassar. Furthermore, a group of settles took over five dunams of agricultural land belonging to Khader Issa from the town of Khader south of Bethlehem. According to the coordinator for the anti-wall campaign in Khader Ahmad Saleh, settlers then placed a mobile home on the land as claim. He also said that the so-called Israeli civil administration informed Issa earlier that part of his land was state land, barring him from entering it. Issa has been harassed before by Israeli settlers, who cut down 85 olive trees on his land, set dogs on him and closed off the agricultural road that leads to this land (Al Ayyam)

Military raids and confrontations in Dheisheh Refugee Camp; one wounded near Beit Hanoun
A Palestinian farmer was shot and injured yesterday by Israeli occupation forces while he was tending to his land east of Beit Hanoun. In related news, in the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem dozens of residents fainted after inhaling teargas shot by Israeli forces early on Thursday. Around 100 Israeli soldiers raided the camp, surrounding the entire area around it. Youths from the camp and the soldiers clashed with Paletinians throwing rocks and empty bottles at the army while the soldiers shot back with tear gas canisters and rubber coated metal bullets. The army also carried out house raids and arrested two men. (Al Quds)