Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Wednesday renewed his threat to remove Yasser Arafat, saying the Palestinian leader would "get what he deserves."

Sharon told Israel Radio that Israel would take action against Arafat at a time of its choosing as it did in assassinating the leaders of Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) earlier this year inthe Gaza Strip.

"We acted against the heads of Hamas in a way we found right at the right time when it was convenient for us," Sharon said.

"When the issue of dealing with Arafat comes up, we will act again in this fashion," he added.

Sharon stressed that Israel will decide what the country will do with Arafat when the time and conditions are ripe.

"Everyone will get what he deserves," Sharon responded to a question whether the veteran Palestinian leader would face the same fate as the chiefs of Hamas, a Palestinian group vowed to destruct Israel.

Arafat will get what he deserves because many Israelis lost their lives during the past years, Sharon said.

Senior Israeli officials have made such threats against Arafat before, but political sources say such a move is unlikely as long as the United States, Israel's close ally, strongly opposes it.

Sharon suggested earlier that Israel might either assassinate Arafat or expel him from the Palestinian territories.

Arafat has been confined to his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah since December 2001 and was named as an absolute obstacle to peace by Sharon.

Sharon has made a number of previous threats against Arafat's life but any move to either expel or assassinate the Palestinian leader would be fiercely opposed by Washington.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) strongly blamed Israeli repeated threats to Arafat last week, saying any action against Arafat would mix things up and the peace process can never be resumed between the Palestinians and the Israelis after that.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said last week that the threat was very dangerous and called for international interference.