Israeli Likud central committee members called for assassinating Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after the Islamic resistance movement Hamas' leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi was killed, Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post reported Sunday.  

The Likud activists praised Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the assassination of Rantisi, saying such moves will increase the chances of Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan being passed in a referendum scheduled on May 2 among Likud members, the report said.

However, Sharon's advisers dismissed such talks as ridiculous, saying "The prime minister runs the country according to his responsibility and his understanding and not according to the wishful thinking of Likud central committee members."

Minister without Portfolio Uzi Landau also welcomed the assassination, saying it could only be approved by a right government.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2004)