Editor's Note: Work began Tuesday to exhume the body of Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat amid an investigation of his 2004 death.

[Update 8:48 a.m.] The process of removing the marble tombstone on Arafat's grave to allow for exhumation of the body is under way, a Palestinian source said. The glass surrounding the mausoleum has been removed.

The exhumation process is likely to take at least two weeks, with the more delicate work being done by hand, the source said.

Scientists from France, Switzerland and Russia are expected in Ramallah when the process of removing the earth around Arafat's body begins.

[Posted 7:21 a.m.] Work has begun to exhume the body of Yasser Arafat.

The Palestinian leader's mausoleum is in the Palestinian presidential compound in Ramallah.

Palestinian officials approved the move over the summer, after investigators said they found high levels of a radioactive substance on some of Arafat's personal belongings. Suha Arafat, the former leader's widow, told CNN that she wanted his body exhumed to find out whether he was poisoned.

A French prosecution official said in August that France has launched a murder inquiry into Arafat's death in 2004.