RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Ousted Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan on Wednesday welcomed a French court's announcement that it would open an investigation into the 2004 death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a statement said.

Dahlan said he hopes the investigation will reveal the mystery surrounding the circumstances of Arafat's death.

Arafat died in a Paris military hospital in November 2004, a month after being airlifted - when his health collapsed - from his battered headquarters in Ramallah, where he had been effectively confined by Israel for more than two and a half years.

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.

A former security chief in the Gaza Strip under Fatah, Dahlan fled the West Bank after his ouster from the party last June, after which security forces raided his home.