Sharon, who is under fire in Israel over his plan for a Gaza pullout and over a bribery scandal, also included Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's Hizbollah guerilla group, in threats issued in a series of newspaper interviews.

"I wouldn't suggest either one of them should feel secure. I wouldn't propose that any insurance company give them coverage," Sharon told Israel's Haaretz daily.

"Anyone who kills a Jew or harms an Israeli citizen, or sends someone to kill Jews, is a marked man."

Sharon's most explicit threat yet against Arafat came 10 days after Israel assassinated Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in a helicopter strike in Gaza. Hamas, dedicated to destroying Israel, has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings.

An Israeli-Arab legislator who visited Arafat said the Palestinian leader dismissed the threat saying: "Sharon has tried to kill me 13 times and failed. I'm not an easy mark."

Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said of Sharon's remarks that the alternative to Arafat would be "chaos, extremism and anarchy" in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In Jerusalem's Old City, Israeli police stormed the square outside al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites, and used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse Palestinian stone-throwers after Friday Muslim prayers.

Adnan Husseini, director of the Islamic Waqf, which oversees the compound, said police acted without provocation and called the Israeli action a "flagrant violation of freedom of worship."