Suha Arafat has disclosed that she has suspicions about who might have poisoned her husband, but is afraid to reveal them publicly.

Speaking to Times of Malta by phone yesterday, the widow of the late Palestinian leader said the poison must have been administered to his food or drink by “someone from his entourage, or someone he knew”.

“I have my own personal convictions but I am afraid to reveal them,” she said.

A Swiss forensic team has concluded that their test results “moderately support the pro­position that the death was the consequence of poisoning with polonium-210.”

Polonium is a radioactive isotope that requires intimate contact to be administered.

The Palestinian Authority president officially died of a stroke at a French hospital in 2004, four weeks after falling ill at his besieged compound in Ramallah. He was 75.

The Swiss team carried out a detailed examination of samples from his remains exhumed last November, together with his medical records and items taken from the hospital in Paris.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, one of the forensic experts said: “We cannot tell how much polonium was actually ingested, only that our observations are compatible with the poisoning hypothesis.”

Ms Arafat felt the results were conclusive proof that her husband was poisoned. Pointing out that only countries with nuclear reactors have access to polonium, she was nevertheless reluctant to accuse Israel of supplying it.

He would have preferred to have been killed in the battlefield

“Everyone says Israel, but I can’t say that. I did this scientifically from the beginning so I must leave it in the hands of the investigators,” she said.

Israel has strongly denied it was involved.

‘I must leave it to the investigators’

Pushed further on individuals she believed could be behind the poisoning, Ms Arafat said it was ultimately up to the courts to decide.

“The investigators have those names [of the suspect/s she thinks was involved in the plot], yes,” she said.

Last August, Ms Arafat requested a French court to open a murder investigation into her husband’s death following a nine-month investigation by TV network Al Jazeera, which uncovered high levels of polonium on his final personal effects.

An investigation involving three French magistrates is ongoing.

Ms Arafat said her emotions upon learning of the Swiss results were a mixture of “injustice, betrayal and anger”.

“He would have preferred to have been killed in the battlefield, not this way. This is very cheap. But this is a hidden war after all.”

She added that the alleged killer or killers would only be uncovered by an investigation into what happened during her husband’s final days in Ramallah.

“Who were his acquaintances? Who came suddenly? Who were his visitors? What happened at his ‘last supper’, because he fell ill immediately?” she asked.

In his final years, Mr Arafat was living in his partly demolished compound under siege from the Israel Defence Forces.

Although the siege reignited support for the long-time leader of the Palestinians, radical Islamist groups, such as Hamas, were in the ascendency.

Now in charge of the Gaza Strip, Hamas this week accused Israel of orchestrating Mr Arafat’s death and called on the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, to carry out an independent investigation.

“Hamas appreciated him, because he was their leader and the leader of all the Palestinian people,” Ms Arafat said, dismissing any suggestion that the Islamists could have been involved.

Although there was anger on the streets of Ramallah over the news that the former Palestinian Authority president was poisoned, Ms Arafat said the revelation should have no impact on stuttering peace talks with Israel.

“The two things are separate. It will not influence the leaders, but it will influence the hearts of the Palestinian people,” she said.

The Swiss investigation by scientists from Lausanne University was initiated by Al Jazeera, which will be revealing more in a documentary this month.

Separate samples of Mr Arafat’s remains were taken last November by the French murder investigation team, while a Russian team engaged by the Palestinian Authority also took samples.

The results of the French tests are not yet known while the Russian team has concluded that no traces of polonium were found.

Ms Arafat declined to comment on the Russian report because she had not yet seen it.

“The Russians were dealing completely with the PA and I have not been informed of their results,” she said.

While mystery remains on who was involved in Mr Arafat’s death, his widow was sure that, if he were still alive, life would be better for Palestinians.

“We would have a Palestinian state now based on the 1967 borders. Yasser was a seizer of opportunities, and he would have seized the Arab Spring opportunity,” she said.