STORY: Palestinians in the West Bank marked the ninth anniversary of former president Yasser Arafat's death on Sunday. A memorial service to commemorate the late Palestinian leader was held at a cultural center in Ramallah.<br/> <br />Arafat, a guerrilla leader who became the Palestinians' first president, contracted a sudden and mysterious illness in October 2004.<br/> <br />He was flown to Paris in a French government plane but fell into a coma shortly after his arrival at the Percy military hospital in the suburb of Clamart, where he died on Nov. 11.<br/> <br />The official cause of death was a massive stroke but French doctors said at the time they were unable to determine the origin of his illness. No autopsy was carried out.<br/> <br />A Russian report quoted by Palestinian investigators on Friday said there was insufficient evidence to support the theory that Yasser Arafat died in 2004 by polonium poisoning.<br/> <br />The findings were far weaker than those of a Swiss laboratory announced on Wednesday.
