Local sources say that the opening of the tomb located in the government building of Muqaata (Ramallah) took place at dawn, far from prying eyes.
His remains will be analyzed in the coming weeks by a team of international experts from France, Switzerland and Russia. They will have the task of finding out whether the death of the Arab leader was natural or caused by poisoning from polonium 210. The start of tests on the leader's bones comes just a few days before November 29, when the General Assembly of the United Nations will vote on admitting Palestine as non-member State.
When he died November 11, 2004 in the military hospital in Clamart (Nanterre), Yasser Arafat had dominated the political scene in the Middle East for nearly 40 years, fighting first with violent and then with peaceful means, to create a Palestinian state. Shortly after his death due to hemorrhagic stroke, many spoke of a possible assassination. However, the French authorities had never provided for an autopsy.
The murder theory - which Arafat's family has always sustained - came back on the scene with force in July, after a group of Swiss scientists from the Institute of Radiation Physics (IRA), of the University of Lausanne, found traces of the radioactive element on some of the Palestinian leader's personal effects, kept by the widow.
In late July, Suha Arafat filed a complaint against unknown persons at the Prosecutor's Office in Nanterre, responsible for what happens in nearby Clamart. On the widow's appeal, the French President Francois Hollande has created a group of French and Swiss experts to investigate the case.
The Russians' presence is due to Tawfik al-Tirawi, head of the Palestinian investigations; not trusting France and Switzerland, he sought Moscow's involvement because of its historical ties with Palestine.
The former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died in London in 2008, poisoned by polonium-210.
The British authorities have always accused the ex-KGB of poisoning him.