Arafat Will Be Exhumed, Autopsied

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has given his permission for the exhumation of the remains of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, a top aide said days after a Swiss institute reported finding elevated traces of a radioactive substance on the late leader's belongings. The findings were inconclusive, but revived speculation that Arafat was poisoned. "We are on the way to an autopsy," the aide says.

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. Arafat's widow, Suha, as well as the top Muslim cleric in the Palestinian territories have backed 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. "All indications say he was poisoned," al-Kidwa said. (More Yasser Arafat stories.)