TEHRAN The Zionist army arrested 14 suspected members of the Islamic movement Hamas in an overnight raid on a West Bank village, a military spokesman said Sunday.

The Palestinians suspected of carrying out anti-Israeli attacks were arrested in the village of Asirah ash-Shamilayah, in a sector where Israel remains in charge of security near Nablus in the northern West Bank.

AFP said in its report that residents believed most of those arrested were students at An-Najah University in Nablus.

Palestinian security sources also said that Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah Faction local leader was arrested overnight from the village of Salfit, south of Nablus.

Israel has carried out numerous arrests of Palestinian militants it suspects of waging anti-Israeli attacks during the 12-week Intifada or uprising, and in recent weeks has killed at least a dozen in organized operations.

Also, the mutilated body of a Palestinian man was found on Sunday near the West Bank town of Ramallah, Palestinian hospital officials said.

Sarhan abu Irmeileh, 30, had been suffocated and stabbed and one of his hands had been cut off, they said.

Members of Irmeileh's family said they believed Jewish settlers killed him.

Palestinian authorities were investigating the killing, Issam al-Ansari, attorney general for Palestinian-ruled Ramallah, said.

The Israeli Army said it did not know of a body being found or an incident in which settlers attacked a Palestinian, according to Reuters.

At least 350 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed in a Palestinian uprising that began almost three months ago.

In the meantime, an international meeting on Qods Day in a message to Iran's Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei Saturday paid tribute to him for giving support to the ideals of the Palestinians.

The two-day meeting named "Resistance, a Symbol of Freedom" was held last Thursday in Syrian capital Damascus.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi described Intifada as a turning point in the history of the struggles of the Palestinian people against the occupation regime of Israel.

Assefi, who was speaking on the anniversary of Intifada, said, "Anti-Zionist struggles which were carried out by Palestinian groups spread to Palestinians from all walks of life and entered a new stage with the (latest) Intifada."

Commenting on the effects of the first Intifada which began in 1987, Assefi said the talks on compromise which began in 1991 was a move to confront the righteous struggles of the Palestinian people.

According to IRNA, Assefi said, "What we are witnessing in Palestine now, is the result of denying the inalienable rights of Palestinians such as the right of self-determination and the right of the Palestinian refugees to return (to their homeland), during nine years of compromise talks."

He said the continuation of the major struggles of the Palestinians demonstrates that the best way to achieve the rights for them is through resistance to the Zionist regime.

Assefi stressed the principled position of the Islamic Republic of Iran to support the Palestinians until the realization of all their rights.