The Palestinian Authority has agreed to exhume the body of late leader Yasser Arafat after claims he died after being poisoned with the radioactive element polonium-210.

Tests performed by the Institute of Radiophysics at the University of Lausanne found significant traces of polonium-210 on Arafat's clothes and personal belongings.

His wife Suha Arafat and the head of the Institute, Francois Bochud, have said the only way to confirm Arafat died of poisoning was to exhume his body from his grave in Ramallah, on the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority, which had called for an international probe into the death of the former leader after the latest findings emerged, has now agreed to exhume his body, Reuters reports.

"The Authority, as it always has been, is ready to completely cooperate with and clear the way for an investigation into the true causes leading to the martyrdom of the late president," Nabil Abu Rdeineh, spokesman to Arafat's successor as Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas told Reuters.

Arafat died in 2004 in a military hospital in France. Doctors said they could not establish the cause of his death.

French officials as well as Arafat's personal doctors have refused to publicly give details on the nature of his illness.

Speculations Israel's spy agency Mossad had killed him rapidly surfaced in Palestine.

The country has denied involvement in Arafat's death, instead pointing the finger at Palestinian factions.

Talking to Israel's Army Radio, Avi Dichter who at the time was the head of the Shin Bet- Israel's internal security service- said it was now up to the Palestinians to find out what really happened.

"The body is in their hands. It is in Ramallah and really, all the keys are in their hands," he said.