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A flag saying "merci" (thank you) (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners November 16, 2004 |
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France has no intention of making Yasser Arafat's medical records public and will leave the decision about what to do with them up to his family, the foreign minister said Tuesday.
Michel Barnier's comment came shortly after Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia told The Associated Press he had formally requested that France publish Arafat's medical records.
Arafat died at the age of 75 on Thursday in a French hospital, where he was taken for treatment on Oct. 29 after his health deteriorated. Neither Palestinian officials nor Arafat's French medical team have announced the cause of death.
"The medical file of Yasser Arafat will be transmitted, conforming to the law and to rules, to members of the immediate family who ask for it -- and I mean family," Barnier told Europe-1 radio.
Asked if Paris would suggest to Arafat's wife, Suha, that she make the medical report public and put an end to speculation over the cause of death, Barnier replied: "The family of Yasser Arafat has the right to do as it wishes."
Citing France's strict privacy laws, Barnier said there was no room for making exceptions.
"This rule protects all citizens -- the most famous and the most anonymous. It is very important to respect it," he said.
Palestinian requests and suspicions
Monday, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia has formally requested that France publish the medical records of Yasser Arafat following his death last week.
Arafat died at the age of 75 Thursday in a French hospital, where he was taken Oct. 29 for treatment after his health deteriorated. Neither Palestinian officials nor Arafat's French medical team have announced the cause of death.
The Palestinians have sent a letter asking the hospital to release all Arafat's health records, Qureia told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday.
"We sent an official letter, asking for all the details and all the reports," Qureia said from his office outside Jerusalem. "He is one of the regions main leaders and therefore I think we should know what happened."
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said Monday that France would "examine fully" any request from the Palestinian leadership for details on Arafat's death.
The intense secrecy surrounding Arafat's final days has aroused frustration and rumors in many parts of the Arab world. Arafat's Jordanian physician, Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, has called for an autopsy, citing poisoning as a possible cause for Arafat's death.
However, on Saturday a top Palestinian official, Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations and Arafat's nephew, said that there is no evidence that Israel poisoned Arafat. Nevertheless, he, too, called for an investigation.
Israel has vehemently denied any wrongdoing in Arafat's death.
Maariv: Israeli security officials launch investigation
The Israeli daily Maariv reports today that Israel has officially launched an investigation as to whether Arafat died of AIDS.
The paper reports that the accumulation of evidence suggests to Israel's "intelligence branch" that such a possibility is "much more than speculation."
The paper said that the investigation is involving both intelligence and medical sources.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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