(AFP) Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat arrived here today for talks with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the latest leg of his whirlwind tour of Asia, officials said.

Arafat, accompanied by a 14-member entourage, flew in from China at 6.00am in his private jet and was greeted at the airport by Deputy Foreign Minister Leo Michael Toyad, a foreign ministry official told AFP .

Arafat is now resting at a luxury hotel near Kuala Lumpur and is to meet Mahathir in Putrajaya this evening, the official said.

"The two leaders have very close ties. Arafat is likely to brief the prime minister on the current situation in Palestine ahead of the UN General Assembly," the official added.

Arafat, who is on a whistle-stop tour to raise international support for the Palestinians amid rising violence in the Middle East, last visited Malaysia in August last year.

Mahathir is known as a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause.

Just struggle

Earlier, the Palestinian leader stopped overnight for two hours in Hanoi where he held talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.

Arafat briefed the premier on the "situation in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel" which was "seriously jeopardising the Middle East peace process," said the mouthpiece daily of the ruling communist party, Nhan Dan (The People) today.

"Israel's use of heavy weapons against Palestinian positions has caused significant casualties and material losses to civilians," the paper quoted him as saying.

Khai reiterated Vietnam's support for the "just struggle and inviolable national rights of the Palestinian people" and "expressed concern about the dangers of escalation," the paper said.

He called for every effort to be made to resume peace talks on the basis of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and the exchange of land for peace.

It was the Palestinian leader's 11th visit to communist Vietnam, which along with other Eastern Bloc states, was a staunch Cold War supporter of the Palestinian cause.

Arafat was in China yesterday after brief visits to India and Pakistan.