Arafat was a discredited figure who had exhausted the parience of the West and the Arab world alike. Israel had little reason to kill him, on the contrary, its interests might have been better served by keeping Arafat alive. As long as he was around Israel was under no international pressure to negotiate or make concessions to the Palestinians.

If Arafat was murdered, the finger of blame might pint to his battalion of Palestinian enemies, notably the radical Islamists of Hamas. The prosaic explanation that the 75-year-old simply fell victim to age, illness and his unhealthy four-year confinement to a besieged headquarters still sounds plausible. If that is now ruled out there would be enough suspects in this murder mystery to satisfy Agatha Christie at her most imaginative.

Read in full at The Telegraph.