Faruq Qaddumi became the most senior Palestinian figure to endorse the poisoning theory when he told reporters in Tunis on Monday: “I can categorically confirm that Abu Ammar (Arafat) was poisoned.

“The poison was administered in the food and in the medication he swallowed,” said the Tunis-based Qaddumi, who was appointed Fatah chief after Arafat died but refuses to visit the occupied Palestinian territories.

His comments are a variation of a theory put forward by Arafat’s former cabinet secretary, Ahmed Abdelrahman, who has said the Palestinian leader was poisoned more than a year before he died on November 11 at the Percy military hospital on the outskirts of Paris.

“The president was exposed to something (on September 25, 2003), and I’m inclined to believe it was maybe gas or something else,” Abdelrahman told a newspaper interviewer in December.

Neither man has produced any medical evidence to back up their claim. One doctor who treated Arafat for many years simply laughed at Qaddumi’s comments when contacted by AFP.

“He should not come out with comments such as this unless he has any concrete proof,” the doctor said on condition of anonymity.

Arafat’s nephew, Nasser al-Qidwa, who has been handed a medical report into the death, has acknowledged that French doctors who carried out tests on his late uncle discovered no trace of any known poison.

France’s strict medical secrecy laws mean the exact cause of death has never been made public, but Qidwa, who is Palestinian foreign minister, was entitled to receive a copy of his medical file as a close relative.

The lack of evidence has not prevented many Palestinians from forming the view that the man who symbolised their quest for independence was killed by Israeli agents, having long been branded by his arch enemy Ariel Sharon as ‘an absolute obstacle’ to peace.

“I am almost sure that he was poisoned,” said schoolteacher Farid Abdelhalim.

“It’s still not been clarified how he died, which makes me believe that Abu Ammar was poisoned, as we know he was a target of the Israelis for long,” Abdelhalim said near the Muqataa leadership compound where Arafat is buried.

Taxi driver Osama Qassam was even more unequivocal.

“I am positive that Arafat was poisoned. The Israelis couldn’t kill him directly so they had to get him this way,” he said.

“Once it was just a feeling, but as no one has come up with an explanation I feel that they are trying to hide something. This situation proves that Arafat was poisoned.”

Similar views prevail in the Gaza Strip, the stronghold of Hamas, whose overall leader Khaled Meshaal was poisoned by Israeli agents in Amman eight years ago as part of an abortive assassination attempt.

“The Americans and the Israelis did not want Abu Ammar around so they wanted to poison and kill him,” said Abdelmajihd Sarah, a civil servant working in Gaza City. “Mr Qaddumi has confirmed this.”

Maher, a 33-year-old who only gave his first name, agreed that Arafat was bumped off but possibly at the hand of Palestinians collaborating with Israel.

“All Palestinians know that Israel did not want Abu Ammar, but we cannot be sure if Israel killed him directly by poisoning or maybe some Palestinians participated in his killing.”