PARIS, Nov 18 (AFP) - Family members of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat are preparing a request to obtain medical files detailing his illness and cause of death, which France will grant, the French defense ministry announced Thursday.
"We are expecting to receive this request, and we will respond to it positively," said defense ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau, adding that those entitled to the files were Arafat's widow Suha, her daughter and a nephew.
Arafat died a week ago at age 75 at a French military hospital in a Paris suburb after being admitted on October 29.
Arafat's nephew Nasser al-Qidwa is set to travel to France to formally request his uncle's medical files, Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath said in Gaza City on Thursday.
Al-Qidwa, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, will ask for a copy of Arafat's medical records "in his capacity as a relative," Shaath told reporters.
"We respect French law that stipulates that medical information is only available to next of kin," he added.
"The file will be transferred to Nasser al-Qidwa, who will in turn hand it out to the committee," he said referring to a recently created ministerial body tasked with investigating the cause of Arafat's death.
Under French law, the family may decide to make the files public.
With no announcement of the cause of Arafat's death, rumors have spread through the Arab world that Israeli agents poisoned the veteran leader.
The head of a Jewish umbrella group in France, CRIF, has written to President Jacques Chirac to demand "full light on the causes of Arafat's death," charging that they were being "concealed".
"Silence invites fantasies that can lead to troubles, including in France," Roger Cukierman wrote, according to a statement released Thursday.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Wednesday that France has nothing to hide concerning the late Palestinian leader's medical file.
"France is not hiding anything. The Palestinian leaders came to Paris... before Yasser Arafat's death (and) met extensively with the medical team" treating him, Barnier told French television.
"After having met the medical team, the Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath himself said that the rumor (that Arafat) was poisoned was unfounded."
11/18/2004 14:09 GMT - AFP