JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON, April 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon renewed his threats against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Monday despite a warning from Washington that any violence against Arafat would not ease flare-up of the Mideast crisis.

    DEFIANT SHARON THREATENS ARAFAT AGAIN

    Although criticized by the United States last week for terming Arafat as a "marked man," Sharon told public radio on Monday that "Arafat has been to blame for the murder of Jews for decades."

    "All those who kill Jews or push for the killing of Jews or Israeli citizens deserve to die," he said earlier in an interview.

    The Israeli prime minister also brushed off US criticism over his comments, insisting that "every country which respect itself, faced with assassins, must defend itself, like the United States does."

    Washington has warned Sharon against any action that would threaten Arafat, who is now confined to his Ramallah presidential headquarters by Israeli tanks.

    "We have made it clear that sending Arafat into exile, or otherwise dealing with him, is not part of the solution to the situation in the Middle East," said Whited House spokesman Scott McClellan on Monday.

    "We've made our view very clear to Prime Minister Sharon and he's very well aware of what our view is," he said.

    Sharon told Israeli Channel One TV Thursday that Arafat shouldn't think that he is safe in office and would not stay for ever.

    He also warned on Friday that Arafat and Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla group, might bethe targets of an Israeli assassination attempt.

    Sharon made similar remarks in a number of interviews made withthe Israeli media on the eve of the Jewish festival of Passover.

    Israeli police have beefed up their deployments for the Passover holiday, which starts Monday night, as all the security services move to guard the already high state of alert, Israel Radio reported.

    Thousands of policemen, supplemented by Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers, will be deployed to guard worshipers and vacationers over Passover.

    More than 1,000 police officers are being deployed Monday in the Dan region alone.

    Security forces have received more than 60 terror warnings, butpolice said they were not aware of any pinpointed threats.

    ISRAELI MILITARY RAIDS, KILLING CONTINUE

    Three Palestinian teenagers were killed by Israeli army on Monday in central Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources reported.

    They said the Israeli army stationed at the Jewish settlement Netsarim heavily shelled Johr El-Deek area, east of the settlement,and clashed with Palestinian militants.

    Meanwhile, Palestinian medical sources said the Israeli army handed over early Monday the bodies of three Palestinians who werenot identified yet.

    Director of Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the nearby city of DeirAl-Balah Ibrahim Al-Msadar said the three bodies are children fromthe Al-Bureij refugee camp who were shot by Israeli soldiers.

    Palestinian Health Minister Jawad Al-Tibi said Monday that 651 Palestinian children were killed by the Israeli army during 42 months of the Intifada (Uprising).

    Al-Tibi made the statements on the occasion of the International Day of the Palestinian Child.

    The killed Palestinian children, out of the total 3,045 Palestinians killed since the outbreak of the Intifada on September 2000, were aged below 18, he said.

    "This death toll includes the victims killed by the Israeli army shelling, helicopters and military airplane bombings, as wellas Israeli army's random and intensive use of fire against Palestinian civilians," he said.

    The minister, meanwhile, called on the United Nations and the World Health Organization to intervene to avert a deterioration ofthe situation in the Palestinian territories.

    In another development, the Israeli Army arrested 13 Palestinians on Monday in raids carried out in different areas of the West Bank and demolished a Palestinian-owned house near Ramallah, Palestinian security sources said.

    Arafat described the continuous Israeli military aggressions inthe West Bank city of Bethlehem as an "inhumane and racist crime."

    "The continuous Israeli aggressions in Bethlehem are an inhumane and racist crime, but the Palestinian people would resistthese aggressions in Bethlehem and everywhere," he told reporters Monday.

    HAMAS DENIES LEADERS ARRESTED IN NABLUS

    A representative of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas denied Monday Israeli reports that the Israeli military had arrested all the movement's leaders in Nablus city.

    "The Israel Army arrested a number of Hamas leaders in Nablus city but not all of them," said Mohamad Ghazal. "Not everything said by the Israeli media is believed."

    Palestinian sources said the Israel Army carried out last Saturday a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, arresting more than 30 Palestinians.

    When asked about Hamas' intention to become a political party, Ghazal said, "at the present time, this issue is not under consideration within the movement."

    He also denied reports about the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) opposition to a plan presented by Hamas in order to manage the situation in the Gaza Strip if Israel evacuates it.

    Hamas finalized a plan that would handle the political, security and social issues in the Gaza Strip in case Israel evacuates the strip, while some reports said the PNA was vexed by the term "administration" that was mentioned in the plan.

    Meanwhile, Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Abdel-Aziz Ranteesi,said on Monday that the killing of the movement's spiritual leaderand founder Ahmed Yassin had left a vacuum that could never be filled.

    "Despite the worldwide reaction to the Israeli assassination ofSheikh Yassin, he left a great emptiness that could never be replaced," Ranteesi told reporters.

    Ranteesi, who was named as the movement's leader in the strip in the wake of Yassin's assassination, asserted that he would continue on Yassin's footsteps.

    This was Ranteesi's first statements about Yassin's absence since he was appointed as new Hamas leader.

    Ranteesi also said that his first priority as a Hamas leader isunifying the Palestinian position despite differences. Enditem