RAMALLAH, West Bank — For a fateful scene in a murder mystery, it was all a little low key.

Steel-gray skies, a modest guard of honor and a somber ceremony as Yasser Arafat’s tomb was resealed.

It had taken scientists from Russia, France and Switzerland just a few hours to gather the evidence they came for.

No need to exhume the body. Instead they took samples that they will now examine for the deadly radioactive element polonium.

Already some experts warn that their findings are almost certain to be inconclusive.

---

Too much time has elapsed, they caution. And even if investigators find traces of toxin, it won’t answer this question: Who administered the fatal dose?

Arafat's body exhumed; experts to investigate if he was poisoned

No matter. Almost any Palestinian you ask already has an answer: Israel is the assassin.

After all, a man who was to Palestinians the ultimate fighter for freedom was to Israel too often the odious face of terror.

And in 30 years of conflict the Israelis pursued him to Lebanon before finally cornering him in his West Bank compound, the Muqata’a.

Rebuilt from the rubble left by its destruction by Israel, it now houses the gleaming marble mausoleum that is Arafat’s final resting place.

Today it was shrouded in blue sheets to shield the scientists from view as they went about their grim business.

"The time has come to find the proof. And to bring justice. I think he deserves it, and the Palestinian people deserve it,’’ says noted Palestinian activist Mustafa Barghouti.

For the record, Israel enters a strenuous plea of not guilty, courtesy of Ra’anan Gissan, who in 2004 was an adviser to Israel’s then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Did Israel order the death of Arafat? I ask him.

"I can tell you, a definite, absolute no,’’ he says. "They used to say that our snipers had Arafat in their sights and the decision was not to kill him."

Palestinians: Settlers threaten West Bank's centuries-old olive harvest tradition

Today's examination was prompted by a television investigation that found polonium on samples of clothing, including Arafat's iconic kaffiya headdress, provided by his widow.

But the timing is fortuitous, even if it is, as the Palestinians on the West Bank insist, a coincidence that later this week Arafat's successor heads to the United Nations.

Mahmoud Abbas is to ask the UN General Assembly to grant his Palestinian Authority a form of recognition known as non-member observer status.

It would put the Palestinians on the same diplomatic footing as the Vatican but more crucially on open important legal route to potentially suing the Israel’s occupying forces for war crimes through international courts.

The mathematics is looking good for Abbas — good news for a leader who hasn’t had much to celebrate of late. 

His Palestinian rivals in Gaza, the militants of Hamas, have been buoyed by the short war with Israel and claim they’ve achieved more in a week than Abbas has won in nearly a decade of failed negotiation.

Win at the UN on Thursday, and Abbas has something to show for his strategy. 

Perhaps then even Yasser Arafat’s spirit might be permitted to rest a little more peacefully.

More world stories from NBC News:

• ANALYSIS: Israeli defense chief quits politics — but for how long?
• Sabotage to blame for factory fire, Bangladesh authorities say
• Video: Anders Breivik walks from exploding van in Oslo
• Egypt's Morsi, top judges compromise to defuse soaring tensions over decree
• As battle raged in Syria, Russia sent tons of cash to Damascus, records show
• Scientists rush to save manta rays, the 'pandas of the ocean'

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

RAMALLAH -- The body of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed on Tuesday, eight years after his death, in an investigation to establish if he was murdered, a Palestinian official said on Saturday.

A French court opened a murder inquiry in August into Arafat's death in Paris after a Swiss institute said it had discovered high levels of radioactive polonium on his clothing, which was supplied by his widow, Suha.

Tawfiq al-Tirawi, who is in charge of the Palestinian committee overseeing the investigation, told reporters in Ramallah on Saturday that "it is a painful necessity" to exhume the body of Arafat, who came to symbolize the Palestinian quest for statehood throughout decades of war and peace with Israel.

---

Tirawi said the Palestinians had "evidence which suggests Arafat was assassinated by Israelis". Israel denies any involvement.

The exhumation and renewed allegations of Israeli involvement could stir further tension between the Palestinians and Israel, which are observing a truce after a week of fierce fighting in Gaza.

Any positive results for polonium could rekindle Palestinian hostility toward Israel and suspicions that a local collaborator may have poisoned him under directions from the Jewish state.

Allegations of foul play have long surrounded Arafat's demise. He died in a Paris hospital in November 2004, a month after being flown, seriously ill, from his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

French doctors who treated him in his final days said they could not establish the cause of death, and no autopsy was performed in deference to his widow's request at the time, when Arafat died at 75.

Eight years is considered a limit to detect any traces of the deadly radioactive substance, according to the Swiss Institute of Radiation Physics.

Tirawi said Arafat's body would be exhumed from its limestone mausoleum in Ramallah, away from the public or media presence, and separate samples will be taken by the French and Swiss forensic teams, as well as a Russian team of experts, who the Palestinians invited to help with the examination.

After the investigation "the body of leader Abu Ammar will be returned (reburied) in a military ceremony that is befitting him as a leader of the Palestinian people," Tirawi said, using Arafat's non de guerre.

Tirawi said results could take up to several months to be announced.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Scientists rush to save manta rays, the 'pandas of the ocean'
• Understanding the beauty and diversity of Raja Ampat, aka 'Underwater Eden'
• One of FBI's 10 most-wanted fugitives captured in Mexico
• Despite troubles at home, Egypt's Morsi is pivotal player in Mideast
• Puerto Rico a backdoor to US mainland for drug cartels
• Will American be next pope? US cardinals a factor
• Analysis: What Gaza crisis taught Israel about Iran
• The ghosts of Muranow: A journalist's mission to illuminate Poland's haunted past

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Following allegations by his widow that the late Palestinian leader might have been poisoned, a French court has opened an inquiry into the 2004 death of Yasser Arafat, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Arafat died at age 75 in a Paris military hospital in November 2004, a month after being flown, seriously ill, from his battered headquarters in Ramallah, where he had been effectively confined by Israel for more than 2-1/2 years.

According to the BBC, medical records stated Arafat had a massive stroke resulting from a blood disorder caused by an unknown infection. Many Palestinians, however, still believe the leader was poisoned by Israel, the BBC said, adding that some also believe the late leader had AIDS.

Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, welcomed the inquiry. However, he said the Arab League would also call at the United Nations for an international investigation into the death of Arafat, who led Palestinians' campaign to create a state through years of war and peace.

Israeli court throws out family's lawsuit over death of US activist Rachel Corrie

Allegations of foul play have long surrounded Arafat's demise after French doctors who treated him in his final days said they could not establish the cause of death.

---

Many Arabs suspect Israel of being behind his decline, and the case returned to the headlines last month when a Swiss institute said it had discovered high levels of the radioactive element polonium-210 on Arafat's clothing supplied by his widow, Suha.

That substance was found to have killed former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

Suha asked a court in the Paris suburb of Nanterre to open a murder investigation following the revelations publicized in a July documentary broadcast by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite TV channel.

For Palestinian farmer, a constant reminder of Israeli occupation

However, the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne said that symptoms described in Arafat's medical reports were not consistent with polonium-210 and conclusions could not be drawn as to whether he had been poisoned.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said he hoped the French inquiry would reveal more on the circumstances of Arafat's death.

"This does not pertain to us. The complaint lodged by Suha Arafat with the French police does not address Israel or anyone in particular," he said.

"If the French justice system has decided to open an investigation, we hope that it will shed light on this matter."

'False Zionist alleged tragedy': Hamas slams Palestinian official for visiting Holocaust site

Erekat said a Palestinian committee investigating the death would continue its work. "We welcome the (French) decision," he said.

"We believe our political and medical team is working in parallel (with the French inquiry). At the same time the Arab League has now formed a committee which will call for an international investigation through the U.N. Security Council."

According to the BBC, Erekat said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had officially requested President Francois Hollande's assistance in this inquiry.

"We hope there will be a serious investigation to reveal the whole truth, in addition to an international investigation to identify all the parties involved in Arafat's martyrdom," Erekat said, according to the BBC.

'Premeditated murder'
A lawyer for Suha Arafat told Europe 1 radio that the French court was correct in recognizing its jurisdiction to investigate the case, since Arafat died in France.

"The tests done in Switzerland showed that Mr. Arafat, in all likelihood, died through poisoning," said the lawyer, Marc Bonnant. "This hypothesis must be proved, and if that's the case, then it's premeditated murder."

Suha Arafat has said her suspicions were raised when the hospital where her husband was treated acknowledged that it had destroyed his blood and urine samples.

The Palestinian Authority plans to exhume Arafat's body from a limestone mausoleum in Ramallah for an autopsy, and Tunisia has called for a ministerial meeting of the Arab League to discuss his death.

Arafat became the first president of the Palestinian Authority in 1996.

Reuters contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Pakistani Christians live in fear after girl's blasphemy arrest
• Germany homes evacuated after WWII bomb found
• 'A less polar pole': Arctic sea ice at record low
• Seventeen villagers beheaded in southern Afghanistan after 'music party'
• Botched restoration turns Spanish church into tourist attraction
• Bulldozer wrecks Sufi mosque and graves in Libya sectarian attack

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook