Arafat says bombers get foreign help

The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, yesterday claimed that international powers were supporting Palestinian suicide bombers. But he refused to identify any countries.

Mr Arafat told CNN his aim was to rein in the bombers. "This is my policy from the beginning; although there are some - I don't want to say their names - some international powers supporting this."

He was asked whether the powers were Iraq and Iran, but declined to answer.

Iraq is the only country that is openly supportive of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah's militant offshoot, the Al-Aqsa brigades. The families of all Palestinians who die in the conflict with Israel receive a cash payment from Iraq.

Both Iran and Syria back Hizbullah, based in southern Lebanon, which launches attacks across the Israeli border, but the group has played only a marginal part in the Palestinian uprising so far.

In spite of Mr Arafat's claim, remarkably few weapons reach the Palestinians from neighbouring Arab countries.

Mr Arafat said Palestinian security forces had arrested 24 Hamas members since last week's suicide bombing near Tel Aviv that killed 15 Israelis.

A spokesman at the Israeli embassy in London saw Mr Arafat's words as an attempt to shift responsibility from himself to others. "They [the Palestinians] get succour from all sorts, but it is a bit rich coming from Arafat," he said. "He has 40,000 policemen to prevent Hamas attacking Israel."