this is this is typhoon haiyan is making landfall in vietnam after killing thousands of people in the philippines. the storm was one of the most powerful on record. officials expect the death toll in that country to rise as crews search for survivors. secretary of state john kerry says world powers are closer to a deal on freezing iran's nuclear ambitions. three days of talks ended last night without any progress. more meetings are scheduled though for later this month. >> at least one person is dead and many more injured after protests turned violent in bangladesh. opposition activists clashed withright police on the first day of a national strike against the ruling party. protesters are demanding new

elections. >> two people were killed and dozens hurt when gunfire erupted during a birthday house party in a houston suburb. police describe mass chaos at the scene with reports of people jumping from a second floor. officers are now looking for two gunmen. space junk from a former russian satellite is hurling towards earth. it could land in pieces between today and tomorrow. there is little likelihood anyone will be hurt. i am jonathan betz. t wh"what killed arafat?" is next. you can always find us at aljazeera.com. >> in october 2004, yasser arafat fell ill. one month later, he was dead.

no one could find the root cause. i'm clayton swisher. my initial investigation suggested the palestinian leader was poisoned with radioactive material. it triggered the exhumation of arafat's body for testing. and it sparked a french murder inquiry. >> it's a very complicated case. it has politics, intelligence, conspiracies... >> in the search for the facts, we've faced fierce opposition. and we've been placed under close surveillance. >> are you following me? >> go to your room! but now, we have the final results. >> and our investigation answers a question that's haunted the middle east for nearly a decade: what killed yasser arafat? >> what we've got now is definitely a smoking gun... >> you revealed the crime of the century.

>> when yasser arafat died in 2004, most palestinians thought it was murder. but when he was buried, so were the answers to their questions. today, the palestinian leadership insists yasser arafat was killed. >> the murder of arafat and it is a murder even though we don't yet know exactly who, where, when. he couldn't have shrunk and died without a substance that they could not identify. >> ever since president arafat died, in my heart i knew he was killed. >> there was clear evidence that this was a case of assassination, that arafat was actually killed by, by poison. >> nasser qudwa is arafat's nephew

and in 2004 was also the palestinian authority's foreign minister. as arafat lay dying in this room at the percy military hospital in france, both he and the palestinian chief negotiator suspected foul play. what they did about it in november 2004, has remained a secret until now. >> one night, i think it was the 4th or the 5th, 2:00 in the morning, dr. nasser al-??qudwa, a very close friend of mine, called me from paris to my home in jericho and said, "saeb, please, call the americans and tell them to ask the israelis to give us the antidote." and i did. i called their consul general... and i told him, "please, president arafat's health is deteriorating. we suspect he was poisoned. so please, if you can contact the israelis and get us the antidote, we will appreciate it." this, this is a true story. >> but if the palestinian leadership were privately seeking an antidote, it's

exactly the opposite of what they were telling the public at the time. >> the doctors today ruled out completely poisoning, >>so we can also rule out that cause as well. >> although arafat died of a brain hemorrhage, no one could determine the root cause of the illness that led to his death in just 31 days. >> hours after arafat died, french officials issued a death certificate. his body was washed and presented to the palestinian authority, who escorted it back to ramallah. despite saying now that they thought it was murder, the palestinian authority met and chose not to do an autopsy. >> the french did not really encourage an autopsy and, you know, it's not easy to cut up the corpse of your historical leader.

>> information that we now know to be false was also fed to the global media. first of all, i want to set the record straight about the subject of the autopsy... all the newspapers were saying all over the world that she refused an autopsy... >> did you ever at any moment in time consider ordering an autopsy of your late husband's body? >> no. it never occurred to me in the beginning... >> did the doctors ever ask you and say to you suha, maybe we should do this? >> no. >> i recommend... >> nobody no, nobody >> not one of the doctors? >> not one of the doctors, nobody. >> no one suggested, no one recommended it... >> no because it was said that somebody suggested autopsy for me and i refused.

never. >> i don't think the issue of autopsy came up and i would repeat here that it's not true that suha refused, refused that. >> while the palestinian authority failed to order an autopsy, they went on to form their own commission of inquiry. after 8 years, it turned up nothing. >> whether the investigations that were held did their job properly or not is something that i'm sure history will judge...obviously, things changed drastically when al jazeera declared much later, much, much later that it could have been polonium...now polonium definitely wasn't on anyone's mind at the time. >> some eyebrow raising new claims about the death of palestinian leader yasser arafat >> ....al jazeera reignited

the controversy surrounding arafat's death... >> [french] une substance radioactive le polonium... >> litvinenko was the first, now there are allegations that there may have been another... >> high levels of polonium 210 on mr arafat's clothes... >> the evidence can simply disappear... >> we're going to have to dig arafat up to find that out for true...this could tip over politics in that part of the world ...nobody can predict what may or may not come of such action. >> ramallah, the occupied west bank: july 2012: this is the tomb that houses yasser arafat's body. it also holds the key to finding out if the palestinian leader was poisoned with the radioactive element, polonium 210. although polonium is one of the deadliest substances known to man, it disappears quickly, by 50 per cent every 138 days.

so scientists need to exhume arafat's corpse and quickly begin their specialized tests. >> we have to do it quite fast because polonium is decaying so if we wait too long, for sure, any possible proof will disappear. >> based on their projections, the scientists set a deadline of the end of 2012 to do the exhumation. doha, qatar, july 3rd, the story has just broken. arafat's widow, suha, is leading a campaign to get her husband's body exhumed. time is not on her side, and neither is her late husband's nephew.

despite the opposition, suha presses on. >> you know, nasser, he is a diplomat. i'm the wife. for me there's a difference. i respect his opinion but my opinion is i don't want any one per cent doubt about this story. i want to reveal this for the whole world. this is my, will be my battle. >> paris, france. july 6th, three days since we broke the story. the palestinian authority praises al jazeera's film and recommits itself to discovering the truth. its leader, mahmoud abbas, arrives to hold his first official meeting with the new french president, francois hollande. >> he presented to him with the new facts of the al jazeera documentary and urged him...if they have any things they haven't told us, to please forward it to us.

>> july 10th, arafat's widow, suha, arrives in france. she believes pursuing a criminal investigation in the country where her husband died and where she's also citizen, is the quickest way to the truth. her lawyers explain the options. >> i just met with one of the best criminal lawyers in paris and we agreed we have to go further with the file. it is a criminal file now. >> we have to establish that a crime was committed against this man... it's a very complicated case. it has politics, intelligence, conspiracies, and interests from all sides of the >> equation, so it's not an easy case. >> doha, qatar, july 22nd: the palestinian delegation attends an arab league meeting. mahmoud abbas's office has refused repeated requests for an

interview. >> president abbas al jazeera english how are you? is the arab league going to investigate yasser arafat's suspicious death? >> we will! we will!" >> the pa leader goes on to propose his own, rival plan to establish the facts. >> he will officially request to begin the formation of an international commission to follow up the matter...we need to go to the security council. >> the palestinian authority wants to persuade the united nations to take the case. >> our motion, backed with the findings of the al jazeera documentary, has a very, very strong, valid chances of passing. >> paris, july 31st. suha arafat and her lawyers disagree with the palestinian authority. they believe the united nations will work too slowly, losing critical evidence in the mean time. >> we cannot wait forever. as the evidence and the strength

of the poison will be reduced immensely by each day, by each hour... >> suha and her legal team decide to take matters into their own hands... filing a criminal complaint directly to a french judge. >> august 28th the investigating magistrate gives an answer. >> breaking news from europe... >> today french prosecutors opened and inquiry to find out whether he was murdered... >> [mandarin] >> [arabic] >> [french] >> a murder investigation...into whether yasser arafat was poisoned... >> mr arafat died, remember, in 2004 in paris.

them to go but the us delegation that came in here, they told us that -- that quite the opposite could happen, that that could actually poison the well and make things worse, make the stress so unbearable that the iranians will see those sanctions as pure belligerence and then walk away. if that is to happen, it will be a dangerous situation because it means that the diplomatic path will have closed and what happens after that, well, you know, there have obviously been talks of a military option but

the u.s.a. says that that should be the absolute last option on the table. they much prefer the idea of trying to talk to the iranians. they do not -- there has been no discussion of a complete lifting of sanctions. they say that possibly by easing some things, perhaps as the iranians would like to see an easing on the oil exports >> every morning from 5 to 9am al jazeera america brings you more us and global news than any other american news channel. find out what happened and what to expect. >> start every morning, every day, 5am to 9 eastern with al jazeera america. i'm phill torez. coming up this week on techknow. they may look like smokers. >> oh my gosh, it actually smells like pizza. i would eat this. >> they're not. >> wow. >> welcome to the world of vapor. >> there's like hundreds of variations that you can make. >> we tend to regulate that in this country. >> we don't like people making

their own moonshine. >> the science behind e-cigaretts. >> wow, ya, now we're actually spiking. >> september 14th three judges are now in charge of a french legal case that could become a murder trial. their first action is to summon suha arafat to court. >> the first question... what do you know about the last meal of yasser arafat. so i said, er, i know nothing about the last meal of yasser arafat because i was not there.... september 25 the percy military hospital french detectives search the building where arafat died, focusing on the labs that had tested him. >> what astonished me the most,

you remember when you came, we met in paris and i gave you the official letter of percy hospital? they are incapable to give us any kind of blood or urine samples because they have been destroyed... >> but they were not all destroyed. and french police discover some during the search. >> they got biological samples of his body, and its more than 100 biological samples... >> despite the revelation, the cells that remain are not enough for radiological tests. exhumation remains their only option, and for that, they will have to go to ramallah. >> it's october 25, 2012. nearly 4 months has passed since our documentary aired, where the

swiss scientists said that the exhumation of yasser arafat must take place as rapidly as possible. that clearly hasn't happened yet, the mausoleum and grave of yasser arafat just behind me, still is still untouched. >> it's our first day here, but already we're facing problems. >> only up to here. >> but we can get this from the street. >> orders, orders... >> we have permission to film at yasser arafat's grave. but while we are shooting, presidential guards step in. after some discussion, they insist we move back. the next day, security forces tell us we cannot film at all. >> we are told the french are going to come to president arafat's grave today to start taking measurements and coming up with a plan to exhume his body but the palestinian authority and the french refuse to allow our cameras access so we have set up this camera in a van 300 meters away with direct line of sight to observe and monitor who goes in and who goes

out of president arafat's mausoleum. >> in the end, the french forensic investigators never turn up. >> november 5th, >> we spot the swiss forensic team crossing an israeli checkpoint into the west bank. later that day, we observe them visiting arafat's tomb. we try to film them, but once again, the secret police are not happy to see us. >> al jazeera? >> yes >> he told me now, no. excuse me. now, no. >> the cassette, the cassette. >> what is he asking for? >> the cassette. >> no cassette. >> we're again told to leave. the swiss scientists return at dusk and take measurements from the earth. we track them down to this hotel. but we cannot approach them with security guards present, so we speak with them outside their

rooms. >> "unfortunately they told us we are not allowed to speak with you. >> who the authority did, or? >> the authorities, so um. >> within moments, the guards arrive. >> next time i'll call the police, ok? >> november 10th, it's the eve of the 8th anniversary of arafat's death...the foundation nasser qudwa set up in his name is hosting an event. the guest list is a who's who of arafat's former staff and advisors, as well as leading politicians. some are reluctant to discuss the exhumation. >> prime minister, how are you? >> i'm all right thank you. >> will the palestinian authority allow the exhumation of yasser arafat's body? >> the man leading the palestinian investigation and coordinating the exhumation is tawfik tirawi. most recently, he has been telling the press that they may even block access to the body.

>> will the french still be allowed to do their tests? >> if not? >> if we agree. no. >> then we'll never know the truth. >> inside, before a packed auditorium, nasser qudwa makes his strongest appeal yet to stop the exhumation. that night, the senior palestinian leadership sit down to decide on what to do.

despite qudwa's pleas, they finally agree to exhume arafat's body with all the consequences it may bring. november 11th, the palestinian authority marks 8 years since arafat's death. mahmoud abbas will use the commemoration to announce the decision to exhume. nasser qudwa is scheduled to speak. but first there's a heated exchange with tawfik tirawi....and then with saeb erekat....and finally with president abbas himself. in the end, qudwa chooses not to give a speech at all. president abbas will do all the talking.

this is the first time we have heard anything about a russian investigation. the palestinian authority has invited forensic experts from moscow. it is perhaps because they are skeptical of the french who destroyed and then later found yasser arafat's samples. and they see the swiss scientists as linked to al jazeera. mohammed daraghmegh is a journalist who's covered the palestinian authority for decades. he explains their hostility. >> i met with seniors who believe that al jazeera did it intentionally to create an arab spring here in palestine. they had these fears that al jazeera is trying to play in our yard. >> but in spite of any perceived political games, the

palestinians are still agreed on the exhumation. except for nasser qudwa. >> there is much better and more effective way to try to do an extra step if it is needed, and it is not by exhuming the body. >> are you more satisfied by the approach that president abbas outlaid today where there will be french, swiss, and russian investigators coming? >> i'm not in favor of exhuming the body in principle. >> november 12th with the decision made, the palestinian authority starts preparing the ground, ensuring their work is hidden from public view. >> november 13th, we realize we're being followed. >> they are talking on two way microphones, coordinating with other cars. if they are trying to be discreet, it's not really working. but they may just be trying to intimidate us. >> we stage bogus journeys

around ramallah. during the first, a silver vehicle pursues our cameraman. on the second, we're tailed by a black car. the giveaway is when we get to the roundabout. and it happens again with a different vehicle. >> one more time, one more time, one more time...yep...there we go...now that is not obvious. we're going in a circle and they're still going in a circle. knowing we're being tailed, and fearing the agents may go further, we conceal a camera in a bag in our room. while we are out, it is triggered by a man in a hotel uniform. he has tools and appears to adjust something near our equipment.

minutes later, two others come in and actually make the bed. but then, another person arrives and searches our bag. we recognize him. he's the driver of the black car. later on, our cameraman confronts him. >> hi, why are you following me? yeah. why are you following me? i've seen you. following me. today and yesterday you were following me. >> yesterday and today? >> yeah. this your car? >> yes. >> yeah, are you following me today? the palestinian authority is going to great lengths to investigate the journalists behind the story, rather than the story itself. but why? we identify a fifth person who entered our room, and find him later outside the hotel. >> that is exactly the guy. >> stop, stop, stop the car. how's it going guys? >> no, no, no, no, no. >> no what?

why are you following us? who are you? >> go, go. >> no, i'm right here. are you following me? >> go to your room! >> the palestinean authority is anxious. >> i say don't speak with me, ok? >> why not? >> i'll call the police. >> call the police. >> oh, ok, go. >> we have broken no laws. you are following us. >> there is little time left to discover what killed yasser arafat. >> and the palestinian authority knows the truth could have profound implications for its future, as well as that of the middle east. >> audiences are intelligent and they know that their needs are not being met by american tv news today. >> entire media culture is driven by something that's very very fast... >> there has been a lack of fact based, in depth, serious journalism, and we fill that void... >> there is a huge opportunity for al jazeera america to change

the way people look at news. >> we just don't parachute in on a story...quickly talk to a couple of experts and leave... >> one producer may spend 3 or 4 months, digging into a single story... >> at al jazeera, there are resources to alow us as journalists to go in depth and produce the kind of films... the people that you don't see anywhere else on television. >> we intend to reach out to the people who aren't being heard. >>we wanna see the people who are actually effected by the news of the day... >> it's digging deeper it's asking that second, that third question, finding that person no one spoken to yet... >> you can't tell the stories of the people if you don't get their voices out there, and al jazeera america is doing just that. >> start with one issue education... gun control... the gap between rich and poor... job creation... climate change... tax cuts... the economy... iran... healthcare... it goes on and on... ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story theses are strait forward

conversations, no agenda, just hard hitting debate on the issues that matter to you ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america and to contact the centers and

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>> what's your name? >> go! >> what's your name? go! >> what's your name? >> movenpick hotel, ramallah, november 19th. palestinian security forces have tailed our cars and searched our rooms. when we confront them, they insist they're with the hotel. >> i tell him i am security in the hotel, not that i am working in the hotel. >> you are not from the hotel. >> yeah, yeah not from the hotel. >> when the manager confirms they are not his employees, we know they are spying on us. and at a time when the deadline is fast approaching to get yasser arafat's body exhumed and tested. >> what is your name? oh, you don't have a name. >> nothing >> breaking into your rooms, following your cars... the palestinian authority is growing nervous with the media... any palestinian will tell you that the israelis killed arafat. but when you ask him further

questions, of course, he would think that some palestinian around arafat was the tool. >> arafat spent his final years under siege in his compound. >> he died while in a jail enforced by the israelis. he died while every substance that he imbibed came through the israelis. he died while even his water came through the israelis. his medicines came through the israelis. he was not free of the israelis when he died. >> but it was arafat's inner circle who had final control over access, food and medicine. they were his last line of defense, so the palestinian authority's anxiety could stem from the possibility that one of his closest aides may have also conspired to kill him. >> if the poison is much more like a conventional poison that had to be put in his food after

it has arrived, then it could've possibly been a collaborator. >> the fear of finding an enemy within may also explain why they avoided an autopsy back in 2004. one of the excuses given at the time was that it would have been prohibited under islam. >> that was false. sheikh taissir tamimi was arafat's trusted cleric and was the last man to touch his body before its burial. >> our investigation has revealed that palestinian leaders made a deliberate decision not to conduct an autopsy. they believed they were sacrificing the truth for a greater cause. >> what would the implications have been had an autopsy been done, had they had found poison

in president arafat's body? >> if, if, if this had happened, i would think, that it would have meant, er, the end of, er, the, er, the peace process as it stood at that time. >> because? >> because the palestinian people would have, er, would have seen with their own eyes a huge betrayal and a big crime committed against them, a crime of killing their own, er, their own leader. >> so they waved goodbye to arafat as well as the opportunity to obtain material evidence that their leader was murdered. >> we all cried our hearts for the death of our leader. obviously, it was a tragedy to us, but the question really then was how to continue, how to move on, and that is really the question that needed to be

tackled at the time. >> but did they go beyond avoiding the truth, to actively covering it up? >> no, there i think this is really a, a bizarre and sinister assumption... we felt that going into an autopsy would really make it very difficult for the people and very difficult for the memory of arafat and would turn what is a martyrdom case into a police criminal case... and really, people were not really ready, at least in our mind, for turning this into a criminal police case. >> nine years later, whether they wanted it or not, it has become a criminal case. lausanne, november 23rd it was the work of these swiss scientists that opened the door to a french murder investigation. having visited ramallah once already, they're now preparing

to head back for the exhumation. it will prove once and for all whether or not the palestinian leader was poisoned with polonium 210. >> to be honest, we, we are not going to ramallah being totally confident in finding polonium. it's actually the opposite. we waited for a long time... the polonium if it is present is decaying fast. >> the swiss set a deadline of the end of 2012 for the exhumation. it's now late november and although it looks like they're going to get the samples in time, it's going to be close. time is also running out for the separate murder investigation that was initiated by french prosecutors. paris, charles de gaulle airport, november 25th, the french have refused to disclose any details of their investigation. but we tracked down their team of judges and forensic experts as they begin the journey to ramallah. along with the swiss and russian teams, the french will

receive tissue from arafat's body for analysis. ramallah, november 26th, it's the eve of the exhumation and three teams are on the ground. there are the swiss scientists, whose initial analysis of arafat's belongings for al jazeera suggested polonium poisoning. there are the french judges and forensic experts, who were assigned to the case when france later opened a murder investigation. and there is a russian team, personally invited by president abbas at the very last moment. each team is required to follow the strict terms of their host. >> the palestinian authority insists that only one man is allowed to touch the body or take samples. they designate a university pathologist, doctor saber al

aloul. he first met arafat as a medical student and the plo helped finance his studies. doctor al aloul makes one final inspection at the mausoleum. later, the swiss, french and russian forensic teams join him. at around midnight, workmen start digging. and at 5am, they open the tomb.

november 27th, day breaks, along with the news that the exhumation has gone

according to plan. >> the body of former palestinian leader yasser arafat exhumed today. >> ..his grave in ramallah was opened... >> transformed into a scene right out of csi... >> [spanish...] >> the experts will examine the samples for possible traces of poison... >> [hebrew...] >> results of the tests are not expected for months. >> the doctor has distributed 60 samples. the swiss, french and russian teams leave with 20 each. they also have dna to confirm the corpse is arafat's. >> so 147 days have passed since the broadcast of our film, what killed arafat? the swiss scientists said to ms arafat at the conclusion that if she wanted to know the final proof, the best way was to exhume the body and take samples. they've done that just now and it will be several more months till we know the results.

>> at a press conference the same day, tawfik terawi vows that if the results are positive, the palestinian authority will take their case to the international criminal court. washington, april 29th, 2013. the chances that arafat's case will ever see the hague greatly diminish. arab leaders have come to support negotiations with israel. and as a condition to get started, the palestinian authority agrees to suspend any attempts to join the international criminal court.

>> every day, events sweep across our country. and with them, a storm of views. how can you fully understand the impact unless you've heard angles you hadn't considered? consider this... antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo with unexpected opinions and a fresh outlook. including yours. >> what do you think? >> stories that matter to you consider this unconventional wisdom. weeknights 10 eastern on al jazeera america

>> malta, june 15, 2013. almost seven months have passed since the samples were taken. scientists are still carrying out their complex tests. to some, yasser arafat was a leader and a hero, to others, an enemy and a terrorist. but he was also a husband and a father. his daughter, zahwa, was just eight when he died. she's now 17. and the memories are still vivid. >> i woke up one morning and i saw my family members sitting in the living room in black all crying. and at that time i knew that my mom went to see my dad. then they told me, "zahwa, come, come sit."

then my uncle gave me the phone, and it was my mom. and she didn't have to say anything. i just burst into tears. and i said to my mom, did he really die? and she said yes. and then i cried and i went to my room. i went to cairo for the funeral. there was my mum and millions of people behind us. when i saw the coffin arriving and the music behind it, the palestine national anthem, i started crying. i burst into tears. >> zahwa grew up in four different countries, never knowing what had killed her father. >> i was only eight

so i didn't really understand what was going on... but slowly, slowly i began to ask what happened to my father? why did he die? who killed him? if somebody killed him, what happened? why? >> as well as the uncertainty, she had to endure the taunts. >> that he was a terrorist. he was corrupt. he wasn't a good leader. he was homosexual. he had aids. all these things... pretty soon, my mom and i are going to get the results. i feel anxious because i don't know what's going to happen, if the result will be negative or positive. but at the same time, i feel very excited because i will know, i will finally know what happened to him, what happened to my dad. >> yerevan.

a new development brings me to the armenian capital. we were expecting results from switzerland months ago. but the news from lausanne is that they will be delayed for more testing and verification. in the meantime, a man from the former soviet union contacts me online. he says he can access leaked findings from the russian scientists' study of arafat's remains. >> the palestinian authority brought russia in to conduct a third examination, on top of the french and swiss studies. but the kremlin has refused any access to their scientists, so the leak could be significant. after months of communication, i decide to meet the source. he asked and we agreed to hide his identity. we spend hours checking that neither of us is being followed, unsure of the risks of releasing classified material.

he shows us 15 pages, said to be the summary findings from the russian lab. after, we convince him to speak to us on camera. they were not only restricted in how they presented the report. they were also given an incomplete selection of samples. the document shows they measured only four of a total of 20.

it's not clear what happened to the other 16 samples. in the four that were tested, the readings of polonium 210 in arafat's bones are unusually low, even less than what scientists would expect from background levels. nonetheless the scientists write that the results are inconclusive. geneva, switzerland, november 4th,

it's the eve of the results and the swiss are finally ready to present the exhumation report. it's been a long wait with a lot of delays, which we're told is owing to the complexity of the tests. mrs. arafat's attorney will meet the palestinian authority and the swiss tomorrow afternoon, but the palestinian authority has insisted that al jazeera be frozen out. we cannot film, or attend. >> thanks for coming out to geneva >> no problem >> professor dave barclay is also here. >> he's a leading forensic scientist, with decades of experience in the british crime investigation services. and he's followed the case closely since the beginning of our investigation. i use the opportunity to show him the russian report for his reaction to the 15 pages that reach an inconclusive conclusion. >> the choice of bone fragments that they've chosen to use is very odd and the levels they've got appear to be ten or twenty times less than you'd expect

just from anybody else in the world, so i think the results are meaningless. >> november 5th, in geneva, the arafat family lawyer, saad djebbar, sets off. he will collect the final report along with the palestinian authority after a presentation from the swiss scientists. in paris, arafat's widow and daughter, suha and zahwa, wait and wonder what the findings will be. for them, this day is the climax of a two year fight for the facts and nearly a decade of not knowing. hours later, and saad dejbbar has received the report. he meets up with professor barclay. and the two men begin the journey to paris to deliver the findings. for four hours, they pore over the details of the report

preparing to explain its significance. as the paris evening draws in, it's a tense wait for suha and zahwa. they hope the study will offer more answers to their questions. by late evening, saad djebbar and professor barclay make it to paris p ready to break the news. >> my principal task is to look at, take a forensic overview of cases. i have been through that in great detail. and i hope i can now explain to you it's conclusions. if you remember back in last year we found the presence of polonium 210 in various body fluids from things taken at the time. the results were very high and in my view, not only were they very high, but the pattern of those results in p there was a

urine stain if you remember and a bloodstain p could not be manipulated in any way. you couldn't have fiddled it. had you kept the samples in your possession for 5 or 6 years, nothing you could have done would have manufactured those results. this year we have been working on samples from the exhumation itself and there are very high levels also in his bone and fluid that came down as his body was lying. and those patterns too are not only very high but they are characteristic of him having a dose of polonium just before he died. so, those levels are about 36 times what you'd expect in a normal person. all the samples from yasser arafat are way above those from other people. one other thing points to this being an assassination.

you can calculate what the levels should be in those stains and in the bones assuming he had been given a fatal overdose way back in 2004. when you do that calculation you get a figure which might be the cause of his death and the figures we get from him when we actually observe him are smack in the middle of what they should be if he was given a fatal dose. so nothing we've got suggests that this is other than an administration of polonium which has caused the death of yasser arafat. can you hold your hand out and just that the amount of polonium in that ink would be enough to kill you. so it is so easy to get polonium into somebody in drink. maybe a tenth of one grain of sugar would be enough. how strong is this evidence in legal terms?

and it's unusually strong because everything was perfect from the exhumation all the way to the lab. the labs themselves are the very best in the world. so i don't have any doubt that we had a smoking gun back a year ago. now i am absolutely certain. this is beyond any doubt in my opinion that it was polonium that caused the death of yasser arafat. and we have a smoking gun we've just got to find out, as you suggested, who was holding that gun. >> you've revealed the crime of the century. this is the crime of the century. >> it would be nice to solve it too. >> yes. i think the palestinian authority has to go till the end to know the truth about it. and i think they have to stop any kind of negotiations with israel until they know what's going on, who did it, why they, why. i don't know who did it but i mean they have to take very firm measures to begin very, very serious investigation for this,

for this crime. >> for suha and zahwa p their faith now has to rest here at the gates of the french justice system. the murder inquiry in paris remains the best hope for finding out who killed yasser arafat. >> now that the results are known, this is a french case and it is for the french judiciary to take their own decision... any judge will conclude that there is a case to consider that arafat was assassinated and they have to start the process of trying to find out who did it. >> once the french investigation is done, there is the option of the international criminal court. but that remains a distant prospect. today, we know what killed yasser arafat. the question now for suha and zahwa, for the french

investigators, and for the world, is who killed him. >> audiences are intelligent

and they know that their

this is al jazeera america, i'm jonathan betz in new york with a look at the top stories. thousands feared dead in the philippines in the wake of typhoon haiyan. now the race to get help to survivors. iran reveals its own red lines when it comes to nuclear negotiations. >> and the mafia's toxic mess, why it's blamed for a cancer cluster >> rickie incognito defends his action while fans give him