Arafat says bullets raising cancer rate

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RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat accused Israel of polluting the West Bank and Gaza Strip with depleted-uranium bullets, causing a sharp increase in cancer rates.

"They have caused cancer that is like Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Mr. Arafat said in an interview.

"America could not find uranium in Iraq, but we have found it here in Palestine -- and the Israelis are using it to kill our people."

Mr. Arafat, his eyes bulging with anger and his lips trembling, the effect of rumored Parkinson's disease, encouraged reporters to visit Palestinian hospitals and see the cancer patients.

Cancer specialists at two hospitals, one in Ramallah and the other in Bethlehem, said they had seen no increase in cancer rates during the current uprising, which began in September 2000.

The Palestinian leader was referring to dense bullets of depleted uranium that are sometimes used by U.S. forces to pierce tank armor. The Palestinians have no tanks.

Mr. Arafat also accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of being linked to the 1995 assassination of then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Mr. Sharon is "part of that group of fanatics who killed my partner, Yitzhak Rabin, with whom I signed the peace of the brave," said the Palestinian leader, referring to the now-defunct 1993 Oslo peace accords.

Israeli government spokesman Danny Seaman described Mr. Arafat's charges as "the product of a sick mind and a fevered imagination."

Apart from what Mr. Arafat said during the interview at his Ramallah compound, his tone and demeanor raised questions about the degree of control that the Palestinian leader has over national events and over himself.