US Christian leader Pat Robertson called Monday for the "elimination" of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat as a follow-up to the US capture of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"I have been in favor of eliminating Yasser Arafat for some time, " Robertson told The Jerusalem Post.

"Although he has not been as overt of a tyrant as Hussein, he is responsible for many killings," said Robertson, who is in Israel for the Herzliya Conference. He said it did not matter how Arafat is ousted from the Palestinian Authority. "The time has come for such leaders to be removed," he said.

A former Republican presidential candidate who serves as chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Robertson held talks in the Knesset Monday with Likud MK Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. (© 1995-2003, The Jerusalem Post 12/16/03)