Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat revealed yesterday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has tried to assassinate him 13 times during the past 34 years,Palestinian sources at Arafat's office said.

"This man (Sharon) has made 13attempts to assassinate me,"Arafat was quoted as telling Israeli-Arab Knesset (Israeli parliament)member Mohamed Baraka,head of the Democratic Front forPeace and Equality.

"This man is insisting to ignite a huge fire in the whole region,"he added.The sources said that while Arafat was meeting with Baraka at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah,where he has been besieged for more than two years,he received the news about Sharon's threat to kill him.

Sharon said in interviews with major Israeli newspapers published Friday that Arafat and Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah are not immune from Israeli targeted assassinations.

Asked if Arafat and Nasrallah are targets for assassination,Sharon said,"I wouldn't suggest either of them feels immune...

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