Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat died after a poison was injected into his ear, according to statements made by senior PA official Ahmad Abdul Rahman that appeared yesterday in the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper.

Abdul Rahman, who serves as an advisor to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, granted an interview to the paper on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of Arafat's death.

According to Abdul Rahman, who is also a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, Arafat was poisoned at the end of September 2003 and lost 13 kilograms over the course of 16 days. Doctors were unable to identify Arafat's ailment during this period. Abdul Rahman added that Arafat loved the closeness of the people around him. He said there is no doubt that one of them injected a poison into his ear, which caused his death over the long term.