Poison

Is he or isn't he dead? Although I called it last week, Arafat has remained at least notionally alive. Today's reports (unconfirmed) are the first that he has indeed died.

I wonder if this mystery illness isn't a poisoning? No one knows what's wrong with Arafat. We do know that he went from a state of not perfect health to a state of near liver failure in a very short time. We also know that his bloodtests didn't show anything out of sorts -- just the way a person would appear after a successfully executed poisoning.

He was known to be a thorn in many people's sides, Palestinian and non-Palestinian. So in the spirit of wild-eyed, fanatical and absolutely irresponsible rumour-mongering, I throw out the notion that Mossad (or Hamas, Palestinian Jihad, etc) poisoned him. Obviously the reasons for poisoning him will vary with the group who would have done the poisoning, but nevertheless, dead he is (think Yoda).

Nonsense, you say?