Israel says Palestinians used aid money to buy arms

Israel today claimed a captured former Palestinian finance official admitted using foreign donor money to finance millions of dollars in arms purchases, on the direct orders from then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said Fouad Shobaki, snatched by the Israelis in a March raid on a Palestinian prison, told his interrogators that as head of finance for the Palestinian security services he channelled at least £5million in aid money and public funds to buy arms, ammunition, and explosives, some of which was used by the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a militant group loosely linked with Arafat’s Fatah organisation.