LONDON, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has launched an attack on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon by calling him a "war criminal" in an article published by the British Guardian newspaper on Friday.

    "Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison, not in office," Livingstone wrote in an opinion piece for the paper.

    "Israel's expansion includes ethnic cleansing. Palestinians whohad lived in that land for centuries were driven out by systematicviolence and terror aimed at ethnically cleansing what became a large part of the Israeli state," the article said.

    "Today the Israeli government continues seizures of Palestinianland for settlements, military incursions into surrounding countries and denial of the right of Palestinians expelled by terror to return," it added.

    In the article, the London mayor again rejected accusations of anti-Semitism.

    Stressing his steadfast opposition to racism and his regard forthe Jewish people, Livingstone accused Israel of misinformation about the scale of anti-Semitism in Europe and seeking to silence critics by calling them anti-Semitic.

    Relations between Livingstone and key sections of the Jewish community in Britain are tense after his clash with the Evening Standard Jewish reporter Oliver Finegold, who was likened to a German concentration camp guard by the mayor two weeks ago.

    Livingstone has refused to apologize for his remarks about the reporter. Enditem