Bassam Abu-Sharif
Bassam Abu-SharifFlash 90

Shehab News Agency, an Arabic-language Facebook page dedicated to "Palestinian" news, reported PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat's former aide Bassam Abu-Sharif yesterday claimed possession of a document proving Saudi Arabian complicity in "assassinating" Arafat in 2004.

Abu-Sharif said the document states then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the U.S. agreed, with Saudi acquiescence, to assassinate Arafat by poisoning.

The report claimed Sharon decided to eliminate Arafat as the best tactic to "stop the Palestinian resistance".

The Palestinian Authority has long claimed that Israel was behind Arafat's death at the age of 74. Israel has dismissed the PA's claims as a conspiracy theory with no basis in fact.