Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday denied he had any personal vendetta against Yasser Arafat, saying he is keeping the Palestinian leader blocked in Ramallah only until he arrests the killers of an Israeli minister. "I don't think I'm conducting a vendetta against Arafat. I'm too busy to waste my time on things like this," Sharon told a meeting of the foreign press in Jerusalem.

He said Arafat, who has been cooped up in the West Bank town by Israel since it destroyed his helicopter fleet on December 3, would stay put until he arrests the members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who shot ultranationalist tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi on October 17. "In Ramallah, very close to Mr Arafat's headquarters, there is the headquarters of the Popular Front and the head of the Popular front instigated a murder of a member of the Israeli cabinet," he said.

"Arafat didn't arrest them. Not only did he not arrest them, he gave instructions for them not to be arrested. I made it very clear that if the murderers, their supporters and those that instigated the murder are not arrested Arafat will be in Ramallah," he said. Sharon came under strong international pressure to allow Arafat to make his traditional Christmas appearance in Bethlehem for the Latin midnight mass last month, but blocked him from attending both that service and another Eastern Orthodox one in Jesus Christ's native town a week later. Bureau Report