NEW YORK: Ted Turner, the billionaire founder of CNN, accuses Israel of engaging in “terrorism” against the Palestinians, in comments that threaten to lead to a further decline in the news network’s already poor relations with the Jewish state.

“Aren’t the Israelis and the Palestinians both terrorising each other?” says Turner, who is vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN, in an exclusive interview with the London-based Guardian newspaper.

“The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that’s all they have. The Israelis ... they’ve got one of the most powerful military machines in the world.

The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism.”

His remarks were condemned by Ariel Sharon’s government, which called them “stupid”.

Andrea Levin, director of the American pro-Israeli media watchdog Camera, said the comments were a “reprehensible” attempt to “blur the line between perpetrator and victim”.

In his first British interview since the September 11 attacks, Turner — who broke philanthropic records in 1997 when he donated one billion dollars to the UN — argues that poverty and desperation are the root cause of Palestinian suicide bombings.

But Daniel Seaman, a spokesman for the Israeli government, said: “My only advice to Ted Turner is if people assume you are stupid, it is just best to keep your mouth shut rather than open your mouth and confirm everyone in that view.”

Turner also admits that he was wrong to call the September 11 hijackers “brave” in a speech in Rhode Island that sparked outrage. “I made an unfortunate choice of words,” he confessed.

A senior minister in Yasser Arafat’s cabinet told the Guardian he welcomed Turner’s comments.

CNN has been a punchbag for both sides. A widespread perception of bias among some Israelis and US supporters of Israel has prompted several boycotts by pressure groups, urging viewers to switch to Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News channel.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.