The body of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is to be exhumed after suspicions that he was murdered, perhaps poisoned by radioactive polonium.

Many Arabs see Israel as the prime suspect behind the mysterious illness that killed the 75-year-old in 2004.

A Swiss institute which examined clothing provided by Arafat's widow Suha for a documentary by Qatar-based Al Jazeera television said its radiation protection experts had found "surprisingly" high levels of polonium-210, the same substance found to have killed a former Russian spy in London in 2006.

But it said symptoms described in the president's medical reports were not consistent with the radioactive agent.

Saeb Erekat, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, expects the exhumation to take place as soon as "religious and family procedures" are complete.

"If you ask me, it's a matter of a days, not more than a few days," he said. "Then we will be in contact with the Swiss team or any other team that could come and exhume the body."